Two car accidents sent three people to area hospitals, according to an East Pierce Fire and Rescue press release.

Around 5:45 a.m., emergency teams were dispatched to a single-vehicle rollover on Quinnon Extension Road East, near the quarry outside of Wilkeson. A hunter reported seeing a vehicle’s headlights approximately 75 feet down a ravine. When he stopped to investigate, he found that the driver had been pinned in the wreck of his truck for several hours.

Fire crews had to lift the truck off the patient then use ropes to bring the patient up to the road before transporting him to a hospital.

Less than a half hour after the first call, firefighters responded to a second motor vehicle accident, a head-on crash, on the 25000 block of SR 410 near Buckley. The highway closed while crews from East Pierce and Buckley worked to free both drivers, who were trapped by front end damage caused by the force of the impact. The driver of the compact sedan was transported to a trauma center with life threatening injuries. It took more than an hour to remove the driver of the mid-size pick up. She was transported with serious injuries to a trauma center.

East Pierce Deputy Chief John McDonald praised the actions of two off-duty firefighters – one from Redmond and one from Joint Base Lewis-McChord – who were among the first on scene.

“They were extremely helpful in getting the extrication started,” he said.