A collision in the midst of a heavy downpour on Alabama Highway 67 just east of Holly Pond resulted in the death of one person and serious injuries to two others.

The name of the person killed in the crash, identified only as a woman, was being withheld at press time pending notification of the next of kin. Likewise, the identities of those injured were also not available pending the completion of the trooper’s report.

The injured couple, identified by emergency personnel at the scene as husband and wife, were transported by ambulance to Cullman Regional Medical Center.

The wife had to be extricated from the wreckage after her right arm was impaled by a piece of metal, emergency workers reported.

The accident occurred around 3:50 p.m. at the intersection of Alabama Highway 67 and County Road 1753, about three miles south of the Alabama Highway 69 intersection at Joppa.

Emergency personnel from the Joppa, Baileyton and Fairview Volunteer Fire Departments in Cullman County, the Tri-County Rescue Squad and Arab Rescue Squad, Cullman Emergency Medical Services, Cullman County Sheriff’s Office and State Troopers responded to the accident, braving heavy rains and close call lightning strikes.

“The cooperation from all these various departments has been tremendous,” said Benny Guthrie, a paramedic and fireman with the Baileyton Volunteer Fire Department. “It’s a real tragedy.”

Guthrie was one of the first responders to arrive on the scene. What he found when he arrived was one vehicle with heavy damage to the front end and two people injured inside, one entrapped. The second vehicle, or what was left of it was turned up on its side and burning. The entire front end of the vehicle, wheels and all, was in a ditch some 70 to 80 feet away. The body of the driver was lying approximately 50 feet from the vehicle, underneath a nearby tree.

“There’s not a whole lot I want to say about that except that it was really bad. I’ve seen several bad accidents as a fireman and paramedic and while it may not have been the worse, I’d have to say it was in the top three,” Guthrie said.

Guthrie said in situations like this you have to look past the devastation and personal loss and do your job, which is to render aid to the injured.

“The husband and wife suffered some serious injuries, but I don’t think any of the injuries are life threatening,” Guthrie said. “Both victims were alert and conscious throughout their extrication. The husband was gotten out of the vehicle fairly quickly. We mostly took our time with him because of his injuries and the pain he was in.”

The driver required more time to extricate because of a piece of metal which had impaled her right arm.

“She was also alert and conscious and relatively calm throughout the whole ordeal,” Guthrie said. “All of the emergency works on the scene worked very well together and we were able to remove her from the vehicle and get her en route to the hospital.”

Tyler South was visiting his friend Candice Bailey at her home on County Road 1753 when they heard what sounded like a series of explosions.

“I was in the shower and I heard a loud noise like an explosion. I thought Tyler had done something,” Bailey said.

“South said he went out onto the front porch and saw black smoke billowing up from behind a neighbor’s house just across the road.

“I thought the house exploded with way smoke was pouring, so we went to see and that’s when we saw the two cars. One was burning,” South said. “As we got closer we saw the woman lying in the yard.”

South and Bailey said they had just gone to the funeral of a friend from Blountsville who was killed in a car accident a week ago.

“We went to his funeral on Friday and then walked up on this one. It was a shock,” South said.