Passenger flown to hospital from downtown Wasilla crash

WASILLA — Two cars that collided in an accident Monday at the corner of Parks Highway and Main Street, sent three people to the hospital, one in a helicopter and closed the intersection for most of the afternoon.

Deputy Central Mat-Su Fire Chief Michael Keenan said crews were called to respond around 1 p.m., Monday. The accident was paged out as an off-set head-on crash, but Keenan said he’s not sure that’s exactly what happened.

“I don’t know what the initial impact was. The vehicle where we had the serious injury, that vehicle, after the initial impact, ended up hitting one of the big poles that hold up the streetlights,” Keenan said.

The seriously injured patient was in a rear passenger seat and, Keenan said, was likely injured when the car bounced off of the light pole. That patient was trapped in the car and was flown by medical helicopter to Anchorage. There were seven other people in the two cars.

“I think we transported two other patients to Mat-Su Regional by ambulance with relatively minor injuries,” Keenan said.

Central Mat-Su Fire Chief James Steele said the crash drew responses from both the Wasilla Police Department and Alaska State Troopers. Wasilla police did not return a call seeking comment. Troopers had not posted a press release regarding the accident as of press time and likely would not as accidents in city limits are the responsibility of WPD.

Keenan said that as far as his department is concerned, there were four ambulances and a rescue engine on scene.

Contact reporter Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.