Friday evening at around 3:30pm, McCreary County EMS crew driving Ambulance 82 was traveling on West KY 92 going up Yamacraw Hill after having came back from a run dropping a patient off at the Wayne County Hospital, when the crew started smelling what seemed to be Diesel fuel. They called in an spoke to EMS director Jimmy Barnett who instructed them to take the Ambulance on to the county road garage for maintenance. Shortly after speaking to Mr. Barnett they heard a loud popping sound which followed by fire and smoke coming out from under the hood. The 2 occupants inside quickly stopped and exited the vehicle with out harm. The cab of the Ambulance filled up with smoke and flames so quickly they were unable to retrieve anything from the vehicle. Whitley City Fire Dept and members of the Pine Knot Fire Dept quickly arrived on scene and extinguished the flames. The tree lines on both sides of the road also caught fire but fire crews was able to quickly put those small fires out as well. EMS Director Jimmy Barnett stated that Ambulance 82 had been in service since 2021. On Board the Ambulance at the time the fire started was a Paramedic and an advanced level EMT which neither one of them was hurt. Mr. Barnett would like to thank the Whitley City Fire Dept and Pine Knot Fire members for showing up so quickly and handling the situation and also give thanks to local law enforcement and others who showed up so quickly to help out.
