Firefighter Injured In SUV Crash Returning From Manchester Fire Call

MANCHESTER, NJ — A Ridgeway Fire Company volunteer firefighter was injured Tuesday night in a crash on Ridgeway Road as firefighters were returning from a fire call, Manchester Township police said Wednesday.

Brian Flanagan, 43, of Manchester, was flown to Jersey Shore University Medical Center in Neptune with injuries that were not believed to be life-threatening, Manchester Police Capt. Vincent Manco said.

Flanagan was driving west on Ridgeway Road in a 2016 Chevrolet Tahoe marked as a Ridgeway Volunteer Fire Department vehicle when the crash happened near Richard Road shortly after 10 p.m., Manco said.

The Tahoe drifted off the road and hit a utility pole, severing it at the base. The SUV then went airborne, hitting the low-voltage wires and coming to a stop on its passenger side, partially suspended on the low-voltage wires and trapping Flanagan inside, Manco said. The crash caused extensive damage to the Tahoe, he said.

The impact with the utility pole pulled a wire loose from a nearby home, and that wire hit the 2017 Sutphen Ridgeway Volunteer Fire Department fire truck that was following the Tahoe, Manco said.

The firetruck sustained minor damage, he said, and the two people in the firetruck — driver Michael Trimarchi, 53, and front-seat passenger Stephen Newnom, 31, both of Manchester — were not injured.

Assisting at the scene were members of the Ridgeway Volunteer Fire Department, Manchester Volunteer Fire Department, Whiting Volunteer Fire Department, Pleasant Plains Volunteer Fire Department, Manchester Township Emergency Medical Services, Robert Wood Johnson paramedics, RWJ Life Flight, and Accurate Towing. The road was closed for several hours during the investigation and cleanup.