1 person critically injured in car accident at Kettering Medical Center

KETTERING — One person was critically injured Thursday evening when a truck caught fire following a collision with another vehicle in the south parking garage of Kettering Medical Center.

First responders found a truck that had struck another vehicle and was engulfed in flames on the second floor of a garage attached to the Boonshoft Center for Medical Services about 5:20 p.m.

People reported hearing an explosion, which Kettering fire Shift Commander Mitch Robbins said was the truck’s tires exploding because of the heat.

The injured person was being treated at the hospital emergency room at 3535 Southern Blvd. No other information about the person was released Thursday night.

The garage is used mainly for employees, but can be used for emergency room and Kettering College overflow as well as physicians office visitors.

The Boonshoft Center for Medical Sciences and Kettering College were evacuated, although the fire was extinguished within minutes. Robbins said the truck was a total loss. Three or four vehicles near the wreck were exposed to the fire and damaged.

Patients coming to the emergency room were diverted to area hospitals for more than two hours.

Lori Turner, vice president of market development and strategic communications, said the hospital’s communications systems functioned throughout the emergency, allowing patients and families to remain in contact with one another.