Elk City, OK – Two people were injured early Monday morning after a vehicle reportedly struck a deer, left the roadway, hit a tree, and caught fire east of Elk City.
According to Elk City Fire Chief Kyle Chervenka, emergency crews were dispatched at approximately 1:36 a.m. after receiving an automatic crash notification from an iPhone.
"As fire crews arrived on scene, we found a single vehicle upright in the ditch," Chervenka said. "The vehicle was fully involved in fire."
The accident occurred on Country Club Road near the Elk City Police Department gun range.
Chervenka said bystanders arrived before emergency personnel and were able to remove one of the occupants from the burning vehicle. Both occupants were transported for medical treatment. One patient was flown to Oklahoma City by medical helicopter, while the other was taken by ambulance to Great Plains Regional Medical Center.
The conditions of the victims were not available.
The cause of the crash remains under investigation by the Oklahoma Highway Patrol. However, preliminary information indicates the vehicle may have struck a deer before leaving the roadway and colliding with a tree.
Chervenka noted that automatic crash notifications from iPhones are becoming more common for emergency responders.
"We get a lot of those," he said. "About 99 percent of the time, somebody left a phone on top of their car and it fell off. But we treat every one of them the same because you never know."
He added that firefighters have responded to several recent crashes involving deer and observed numerous deer in the area while working the scene.
"They're moving, and there's a lot of them out there," Chervenka said. "We've been out on several calls lately with vehicles striking deer. It must be that time for them to start moving a little bit."
Motorists are encouraged to remain alert, especially during nighttime and early morning hours when deer activity tends to increase.
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