Firefighters rescue driver using Jaws of Life

This past Monday evening around 5 pm, April 12, a driver was airlifted off the I-35 Northbound near Natalia after a wreck involving two cars, a bucket truck and an 18 wheeler. Both Devine Volunteer FD and Natalia FD reported to the scene to extricate the driver.
“The driver of the bucket truck was pinned in their cab,” Devine’s Assistant Chief Richard Hitchcock said.
Rescue 8120 crew, commanded by Hitchcock, led the driver’s extrication. The jaws of life, the spread, and the punch were all used to remove the driver from the crushed cabin of the vehicle.

“It took about 15 minutes for us to get the driver out,” Hitchcock said. “Due to the damage of the vehicle, It was an extended extrication.”
Air Life was landed on I-35, and once the driver was freed, the driver was loaded onto Methodist Air Care 1 to be flown to a hospital. Devine VFD Firefighters on the scene included Eugene Sanchez, Paul Gengler, Shelly Watson, Daniel Ehlinger, Captain Mike Saldana, and Assistant Chief Hitchcock. First responders were on scene for around 3 hours, and I-35 N had to shut down completely for some time.