Fiery crash severely injures two in Pepin County
Sep. 30—DURAND — Two people sustained serious injuries in a two-vehicle crash in Pepin County Thursday that resulted in both vehicles being engulfed in flames, authorities said.
According to the Pepin County Sheriff's Office:
The crash was reported at 8:23 a.m. on Highway 25, a few hundred yards south of Ingram Road in the town of Waubeek.
Both vehicles were engulfed in flames when authorities arrived on the scene.
A truck carrying U.S. Postal Service mail being driven by Eric M. Rubenzer, 35, of Chippewa Falls, was southbound on Highway 25 when it crossed into the northbound lane.
The truck collided head-on with a pickup truck owned and operated by Levi C. Hayden, 25, of Mondovi.
Hayden's vehicle started on fire and Hayden was pulled from the truck by a passerby.
Hayden was flown by helicopter to an Eau Claire hospital with life-threatening injuries. He was later transferred to a Rochester, Minn., hospital.
Rubenzer was transported by ambulance to an Eau Claire hospital with serious injuries.
The Pepin County Sheriff's Office was assisted by the State Patrol, Dunn County Sheriff's Office, Durand Fire Department, Pepin County Highway Department and the U.S. Postal Service.
The passerby who pulled Hayden from the burning vehicle left the scene before the arrival of EMS personnel but has since been identified.
The crash remains under investigation by the State Patrol and the Sheriff's Office.
