I-29 Ambulance Fire and multiple chain-reaction vehicle crashes

COLFAX, N.D. (KFGO) – A Day County, SD Ambulance Service ambulance was northbound on I-29 when it caught fire yesterday night around 9:15.

The ambulance driver, 71-year-old David Dulitz of Webster, SD, stopped in lane one and assisted the other EMT in removing a patient from the rear of the ambulance. Both EMTs and the patient they were transporting were able to escape the ambulance safely. The ambulance was a total loss, and northbound I-29 was closed for approximately 45 minutes while the fire was put out.

The patient being transported was transferred into the care of a Breckenridge-Wahpeton Ambulance and transferred to Sanford Hospital in Fargo. The ambulance was a total loss. The name of the patient and second EMT will not be released.

This incident remains under investigation by the North Dakota Highway Patrol.

While northbound I-29 was closed for the ambulance incident, a four-vehicle injury crash occurred northbound on I-29 about one mile south of the ambulance incident. Traffic was stopped northbound on I-29 when a car started a chain reaction four-vehicle crash. The car rear-ended another vehicle, which caused two additional northbound vehicles to be struck.

Nine people were in the four vehicles involved in this secondary crash. At least five were transported to hospitals in Fargo with injuries. I-29 was closed at this location for approximately 45 minutes while the crash scene was cleared. More information will follow regarding this crash later in the day on June 9th, 2024.

The North Dakota Highway Patrol, Richland County SO, Colfax FD, and Breckenridge-Wahpeton Ambulance responded to the crash.