Three people dead in head-on collision between lorry and car in Stange municipality

Fire inspector Ståle Nielsen got up in the car when he heard about the collision between a lorry and a car in Stange on Thursday. Three people died in the accident.

Three people lost their lives in an accident between a car and a truck in Stange municipality in Innlandet on Thursday.

Ståle Nielsen was the emergency manager for the fire crew from Stange when the violent traffic accident occurred on the county road on 24.

He was in the process of sweeping a pipe when the accident was reported over the connection. Nielsen threw himself into his own car and turned on the blue light.

– I went directly to the scene of the accident and got confirmation that the crew was coming.

He quickly realized that it was a serious accident.

He says that there is always a certain fear associated with working in the fire service in a small place and having to respond to traffic accidents.

– One makes a few thoughts on the trip out towards the scene of the accident. It may be that you recognize the car, he says.

The ambulance personnel had just arrived when Nielsen got out of his car and rushed towards the crashed car.

– The first task when we arrive at a traffic accident is to find out what the fire service should prioritize.

He says that the working conditions were demanding, because several of the people involved were trapped in the car.

– It quickly became clear from the health personnel that there were three deaths, and we then prioritized the person who was alive, he says.

The injured person was transported to Ullevål hospital by air ambulance. The car involved in the accident is registered in Sweden.

– Must be processed

While the police and the Norwegian Highways Agency’s accident analysis team worked for several hours at the scene, the firefighters returned to the station to talk about the incident.

– There are terribly strong impressions, and they must be processed. Even though we are trained, it is very special to arrive at a traffic accident where you immediately see that there has been a violent collision with major material damage. Three or more is a very large number of fatalities. It is very unusual, he says.

He says that the fire service is covering up and doing what they can to make the impression as small as possible. This time they had a brand new firefighter with them.

– When we have new employees, we take extra care and try to protect them as best as possible. We also talk to them extra in the debrief afterwards. It has gone very well with him who was new this time. He looked as little as possible at what he was not supposed to look at.

The conversation “between the guys” afterwards is extremely important, says Nielsen.

– It helps. We talk about what we have done, how we solved the task and how we think the collaboration worked. We share thoughts about what we have been involved in, if anyone wants it. It is the internal chat that is the best, says Nielsen.