WHITE DEER TOWNSHIP, Pa. -- Crews have been removing vehicles all day from the scene of a huge crash on Interstate 80. More than 30 miles of Interstate 80 westbound remained closed for most of the day as crews towed away vehicles and reconstructed the deadly crash scene.
Troopers say around 1:30 p.m. Wednesday, a snow squall caused a chain-reaction crash involving about 60 vehicles.
State police identified the victims as Edward Posavec, 53, of Hatfield, Pa. and Marek Szczepanczyk, 58, of Sterling Heights, Michigan.
Interstate 80 was closed in both directions for more than 30 miles between the Lock Haven and Williamsport exits on Wednesday.
Nearly 40 people were taken by bus and by ambulance to Evangelical Community Hospital near Lewisburg. The hospital referred to it as a mass-casualty incident.
Hospital officials were notified right after the crash happened that there could be an influx of patients.
"We had the prep in place where we started to clear out areas, build extra triage areas, we started to look at supplies," said William Anderson, Evangelical Community Hospital.
Patients started arriving around 2:30 p.m. by bus and ambulance.
"39 individuals who needed medical care and we had 21 people and three pets come into our facility," said Kendra Aucker, Evangelical Community Hospital.
The hospital has an incident command system in place. Employees do disaster drills all throughout the year to prepare for things like this.
"We prepare, and we test for these things. You do as many variables as possible, but the unknown always occurs," said director of safety and security Curtis Yeager.
Employees say when something like this happens, all hands are on deck.
"A lot of our staff is cross-trained. There's a lot of capability. There's a lot of people who have held multiple roles and are able to pitch in in times of emergency," Anderson said.
Hospital officials say 34 of those 39 patients were treated and released.