Local crews act fast, aid Lifeflight rescue

A LifeFlight helicopter lands at a hastily cleared space at Williamsburg's Anne T. Dunphy School on Tuesday to transport an Ashfield woman who had suffered a head injury.">Emergency personnel from Williamsburg and Ashfield load an Ashfield woman suffering from a head injury onto a LifeFlight helicopter at Williamsburg's Anne T. Dunphy School on Tuesday.">

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

WILLIAMSBURG - Town employees and a local business owner worked together Tuesday morning to quickly clear snow from a school playground and create a landing zone for a medical helicopter on a rescue flight.

According to Ashfield Police Chief John Svoboda, at about 8:30 a.m. members of the Ashfield Police Department responded to a report that a 39-year-old woman had fallen down a flight of stairs and had suffered a severe head injury.

Because of the injuries, first responders called for a LifeFlight transport to Baystate Medical Center in Springfield. Officers began transporting her by ambulance to the helicopter's customary landing zone near the playground at Williamsburg's Anne T. Dunphy School in the center of town.

Williamsburg Police Chief John W. Cotton said local emergency crews began scrambling to clear the playground, which he said was buried under more than 18 inches of snow. Cotton said he and Fire Chief Donald L. Lawton called out for help from anyone with snow-removal equipment.

"Chief Lawton was the one who really orchestrated the whole thing," Cotton said. "We got word that we had exactly 35 minutes to get the area clear because that was when everything else (the ambulance and the helicopter) was going to be arriving."

The cavalry, which Cotton said came in the form of two Highway Department bucket loaders and additional equipment belonging to Lashway Lumber Co., had the landing zone clear in less than 20 minutes.

"It isn't often that the Highway Department is called in for an emergency of this nature," Cotton said, "but (Highway Superintendent) Bill Turner and his crews worked together with other volunteers and really moved that snow in record time."

The medical transfer went off without any delay, Cotton said. The woman's condition at Baystate Medical Center was unknown Tuesday night.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.