Firefighter Nearly Loses Arm In Capital Beltway Accident

LANDOVER, Md. (WJZ) -- A gruesome accident between a fire truck and tractor trailer injures seven people--one of them a Maryland volunteer firefighter. The incident left his arm completely severed from his body.

Kai Jackson explains how the quick actions of a Baltimore surgeon helped save his life.

Frightening images on the Capital Beltway--after a near deadly crash Wednesday morning.

Prince George's County Police say it happened close to 3 a.m. on the Inner Loop of 495 South on Route 50 in Landover. Investigators say a tractor trailer rear ended a fire truck, causing a destructive chain of events.

Four firefighters from West Lanham Hills Volunteer Fire House 28 were hurt and rushed to the hospital. The worst of the injuries was 29-year-old Lt. Ryan Emmons. His right arm was severed below the elbow in the wreck.

Emmons was rushed to Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore where a highly skilled team of surgeons successfully reattached his right arm. The same surgeons attached limbs to  a wounded war veteran this week.

"It requires repairing everything: the bone injury, the tendons, the arteries, the veins, the nerves," said Dr. James Higgins, Union Memorial Hand Center.

Police say after the truck hit the fire engine it overturned. It caused the fire truck to hit a jersey wall and slide a couple hundred feet. Police say the primary accident caused the driver of a Jeep to crash his vehicle. The accident snarled pre-rush hour morning traffic.

"It was a good moment to be able to sort of pay back a guy like that and his family was so supportive," Higgins said.

Police believe the fire engine was trying to make a U-turn in the emergency median, and it appears the tractor trailer had the right of way.