Fire crews work to extinguish flames in the front of the semi after the crash Monday, Aug. 1. Photo by Gary Nieter/Times-Union.

By David Slone
Times-Union

WARSAW – A driver was pulled from his 2014 Freightliner semi by onlookers after his vehicle crashed and caught fire Monday morning, Aug. 1, on US 30.

At 7:29 a.m. Monday, emergency crews were dispatched to U.S. 30, west of CR 325E, in Wayne Township for a crash involving multiple vehicles, according to a news release from the Kosciusko County Sheriff’s Office. 

The preliminary investigation indicates that Habtom K. Gebremariam, 32, of Columbus, Ohio, was traveling west on U.S. 30, west of CR 325E when the semi went off the north side of the road. The semi traveled down an embankment, through a wire fence and hit a large steel post holding a billboard. Upon impact with the steel post, the cab of the semi caught fire, the release said.

Gebremariam was pulled from the vehicle by people that were in the area at the time of the crash. He was taken by ambulance to Lutheran Hospital in Fort Wayne to be treated for injuries. 

Two parked vehicles in the area were damaged in the crash and fire – a parked 1984 Volkswagen and a 2015 Volkswagen Passat. The release does not indicate the owners of the parked vehicles.

Along with the KCSO, responding agencies included Warsaw-Wayne Fire Territory, Winona Lake Fire Department, Pierceton Fire Department and Lutheran EMS. 

Another view of the damage from Monday morning’s single vehicle accident near CR 325E on US 30. Photo by Gary Nieter/Times-Union.