Tennessee driver gets into a car crash so violent, it sends his engine into the woods and starts a fire
Around 40,000 or more people die in car crashes on American roads every year. It’s a sobering reminder to buckle up, stay alert, and slow down. Sometimes, however, people are seemingly just lucky to be alive, like an exceptionally violent crash in Tennessee that ripped an engine right out of the car. While everyone in the vehicle lived through the ordeal, the jettisoned engine started a fire in some nearby woods.
Firefighters had to treat patients and put out a small forest fire after a single-vehicle car crash in Tennessee sent an engine flying
Ooltewah-Ringgold Road (try saying that one five times fast) is a long, mostly two-lane road not far from the Tennessee-Georgia border. It takes commuters between Ooltewah, Tennessee, and Ringgold, Georgia, regularly. However, it was recently home to a head-scratcher of an almost unsurvivable wreck.
Police, fire, and emergency medical services (EMS) responded to reports of a single-vehicle crash on Ooltewah-Ringgold Road at around 5:30 a.m. The first responders acted quickly to evaluate the occupants of the solitary vehicle in the wreck. Fortunately, the only injured passenger, a juvenile, sustained non-life-threatening injuries. According to a statement from the Tri-Community Volunteer Fire Department, EMS transported the young occupant to a nearby hospital.
Better yet, none of the other occupants sustained any injuries in the car crash, despite the hard hit and the state of the wrecked vehicle. The vehicle, a mangled gray SUV, was missing something rather vital after the impact. The hit had all but removed the front end of the SUV and sent the vehicle’s engine flying into a nearby wooded area.
As if the hit and the concern of injuries weren’t enough, the dislodged powerplant started a fire in the woods. However, the firefighters on the scene noted the fire and quickly extinguished it. It’s unclear how the vehicle crashed.
Needless to say, it takes some serious force to dislodge and send a modern engine flying. In a popular compact SUV, like the Toyota RAV4, an engine could weigh over 360 lbs with fluids. Aside from the risk of fire, a large component like a vehicle’s engine could pose a risk to bystanders and property.
