SWATARA TOWNSHIP -- A Pine Grove Area Community Ambulance caught fire along Interstate 81 in Lebanon County Tuesday afternoon.
The fire stopped traffic in the southbound lanes on I-81 around 1 p.m. between the Interstate 78 split and Annville exits.
Volunteers from Pine Grove Area Community Ambulance were transporting a woman, who was in stable condition, to Hershey Medical Center when suddenly, there was smoke in the ambulance.
"Never in all my career did I ever envision something like this happening and that's been 32 years with the volunteer. Never,” said David Lukasewicz, president of the ambulance company, who was driving the ambulance at the time.
Lukasewicz and his partner, Katie Kurtz, who was riding in the back with the patient, worked quickly, pulling over, getting the patient out on the side of the highway and calling for help.
"We had our patient at least 100 feet away, a safe distance from the ambulance, and my first thought is my husband and my children and thanking God I got out of there OK,” said Kurtz.
Two air horns are what's left of the burned out ambulance, which cost a quarter of a million dollars.
There was roughly $200,000 worth of equipment inside all destroyed by flames, except for a $15,000 litter saved because the patient was on it.
The ambulance company has one other ambulance.
Lukasewicz says he loved the ambulance that went up in smoke.
"As a matter of fact, I called her Betsy and I really liked her. Some of the other guys around here didn't like her so much, but I hate to see what happened today, but everyone was safe and that's the bottom line,” he said.
As for the patient, Lukasewicz says she safely made it to Hershey.
"When we got her out, she asked if we were there yet, and obviously, we weren't there yet. We got her out and told her we have a mechanical issue. We got her another ambulance and later on, we told her what happened and she's gonna have a good story to tell the folks when she gets back home tonight at the center."
Volunteers from an ambulance company in Hegins have offered to loan an ambulance to Pine Grove Area until insurance pays for a replacement.
