Car Hit By Mcfr Ambulance

[khoelldobler]

DUNNELLON - Two men were killed in a crash with a Marion County Fire Rescue ambulance early Saturday on a fog-shrouded highway about four miles north of Dunnellon.

Justin L. Corey, 27, of Beverly Hills, was driving the Honda Civic CRX that traveled in front of the ambulance. He and passenger Ryan S. Doyle, also 27, of Danielson, Conn., were killed, according to a Florida Highway Patrol report.

The ambulance personnel were not injured.

FHP troopers on scene said the red 1991 two-door Civic was traveling west on County Road 328 when it appears the driver failed to stop in time at a stop sign at U.S. 41. The Civic skidded into the path of the ambulance, which was going south on U.S. 41.

The ambulance driver attempted to avoid the collision but could not stop in time.

The front of the ambulance struck the passenger side of the Honda. Both vehicles then traveled about a hundred feet until coming to a stop on the west side of U.S. 41.

Alcohol was not believed to be a factor in the crash.

At the time of the accident, there was very low invisibility due to fog. That may have contributed to the crash, according to the FHP.

There was no patient in the ambulance, Fire Rescue spokeswoman Heather Danenhower said. The ambulance was coming back from a call that took it to Shands at the University of Florida and was on the way to a its station in Rainbow Springs.

At about 2:37 a.m., the ambulance crew - which included three people - called dispatch saying they were involved in a traffic accident. The same crew pronounced the people in the Honda dead about two minutes later.

Danenhower also said three fire engines came to assist after the accident. The ambulance crew members were not injured but were taken to Munroe Regional Medical Center for observation.

Firefighter/EMT Derek White was driving the ambulance, and Travis Fulton and Chris Ulry, both fire fighter/paramedics, were passengers. By 7:30 a.m., they had left Munroe Regional and gone to Ocala Regional Medical Center for routine drug tests.

Shortly after 5:30 a.m., Fire Rescue workers cut the two men free from in the crumpled Civic.

Marion County sheriff's deputies had blocked both highways at that intersection.

The deaths Saturday morning were the sixth and seventh traffic fatalities in Marion County so far this year.