Drivers watching emergency crews instead of the road are being blamed in a pair of collisions near Brooks early Wednesday morning.
Around 1:20 a.m., Brooks RCMP responded to a report of a multi-vehicle collision on Highway 1, just west of Brooks. Police found two seperate three-vehicle crashes in the eastbound lanes, across from the scene of an earlier semi-trailer fire, where the Brooks Fire Department was still dealing with the wreckage.
RCMP said they believe the first crash happened because drivers were busy watching the firefighters work on the other side of the highway. No one was hurt in that crash, and all three vehicles were driveable.
Police say the second crash happened shortly after, when a fire truck crossed the highway to help slow down traffic after the first collision.
Two vehicles slowed down and came to a stop on the highway, and a third vehicle hit them from behind.
The Jaws of Life had to be used to cut a 64-year-old female passenger out of a minivan involved in the crash.
She was taken to Brooks Medical Centre first, but was later airlifted by STARS to Foothills Hospital with serious, but not life-threatening injuries
