Wednesday night. Came home from work after a good day at work. Went to bed and it is now right after 7pm. I have my phone on vibrate as always. Suddenly my phone goes off on the nightstand. And it doesn’t stop. Message after message. Finally I look. A UT Health East Texas Ambulance has been involved in a major accident outside Greenville, TX and one is confirmed dead. What am I reading? Is this true? What is going on? Who is it? The article from Northeast Texas Media stated that the ambulance was pinned under an 18 wheeler and one person was confirmed dead and there was no patient onboard. Messages started to flood my phone. I called CERT’s Hunt County Coordinator asked him to turn on all freaking scanners and see what he could find out.
It didn’t take long until I got the first confirmation. It was a UT Ambulance involved. I got a truck number. Looked up who was the crew on that truck. Not any names I recognized. But it doesn’t matter. We are family! We are united, now more than ever. Got hold of another friend, a police officer in the same area. He confirmed to me that yes the driver was deceased. And shortly after coworkers confirmed to me that the paramedic on the truck was gone but the EMT was in stable condition. He was flown to UT Tyler. He was able to message some of his friends and coworkers to ease the panic and worries.

CBS DFW released this article shortly after https://dfw.cbslocal.com/2021/11/17/paramedic-killed-ambulance-accident-hunt-county/.

Texas Department of Public Safety Trooper Kyle Bradford has provided the following information regarding the earlier fatality crash on US69.At approximately 6:55 p.m. Highway Patrol Troopers were dispatched to a major crash at U.S. 69 near Cr1071, just north of Greenville. Preliminary investigation indicates that a Peterbilt rock-hauler truck was backing up across the two lanes of traffic along U.S. 69. A UT Health East Texas EMS ambulance was traveling southbound on U.S. 69 and was unaware of the truck-tractor striking the trailer, killing the driver of the ambulance. The passenger of the ambulance was transported by Air Evac 67 air ambulance to UT Health of East Texas Tyler, a Level 1 trauma center, in stable condition, the driver of the truck-tractor was not injured. The investigation is ongoing and no further information is available at this time.

I’m so sad right now. I am supposed to sleep. My alarm goes off in 3 hours… but I don’t care. I am wide awake. My thoughts and prayers are going out to my work family, to their families, to everyone involved. Please keep them in your prayers! Hug your family tonight!