2 dead, 1 hurt after train hits car in Western Springs

Fire dispatch diverts Engine 84 from another call to the railroad crossing on Hillgrove for the car on the tracks and confirms the location at the crossing. An ambulance is requested to the tracks, and mutual aid is initiated to bring in additional medical support. Battalion unit 1783 reports en route and then arriving on scene, confirming a car fire on the tracks and beginning an investigation, while dispatch continues to line up a Hinsdale ambulance and engine to assist.

Dispatch tones out La Grange Park Fire for an accident with injuries on the tracks, reporting that a car hit by a train is on fire and that patients on the south side of the tracks are unresponsive. Command from 1783 directs the incoming ambulance to stage on the north side of the tracks at Wolf and Hillgrove, while dispatch confirms that Metra has been told to hold trains in the area. Additional units are reported en route, and police request a wrecker or tow truck to remove the car from the tracks as 1783 coordinates which ambulance will handle the surviving patient at Wolf and Hillgrove.

As additional units arrive near Wolf and Hillgrove, ambulance 1214 is directed in as an extra transport resource and told to pull up next to a police pickup truck. Incident command from 1783 reports that there is one surviving patient and two deceased patients from the vehicle, and requests two more ambulances for a total of three responding to the scene. Dispatch confirms that Pleasant View and Tri-State ambulances are being sent and that 1201 is also en route to assist, while a basic life support unit from La Grange is noted as responding.

Dispatch relays to 1783 that witnesses are saying there were children in the vehicle, and command confirms they are aware as additional chief officers respond toward Wolf Road and the tracks. Command advises one incoming officer to approach from the north side of the tracks to reach the scene safely. At the same time, Western Springs requests La Grange Fire Department for the car-versus-train crash with multiple patients, and Wolf Road command later instructs two approaching ambulances to come in from the south side of the tracks to avoid blocked crossings.

With more units arriving, 1714 advises they will be heading to the train tracks shortly, and command tells dispatch that if 1714 is responding, the Tri-State ambulance can be held while Pleasant View continues in. A medic unit reports being on the south side of the tracks and working that area, and is directed to switch to the fireground radio channel. Dispatch confirms that only the Pleasant View ambulance is needed and that Tri-State can return to service.

Later in the incident, a unit at the station checks with 1783 to see if additional manpower is needed at the scene, and command replies that no further personnel are required. Ambulance 1214 is documented as providing advanced life support care and is directed as 1714 approaches from the south and is told to stage behind another unit near the tracks. Eventually, 1214 reports arrival at the hospital, consistent with transporting the surviving adult from the crash, while other units continue to secure the scene and manage traffic around Wolf Road.

In the hours after the crash, village officials and Amtrak confirm that two minors riding in the car were killed at the scene and that an adult from the vehicle was transported to Loyola University Medical Center with severe injuries. Authorities state that none of the 35 passengers and crew aboard Amtrak train No. 381 were hurt, and that the train’s customers were transferred to buses to continue west, while Metra BNSF service around Western Springs was suspended or truncated, causing significant commuter delays. The village notes that the crossing gates at Wolf Road were functioning and engaged at the time of the collision, and that the investigation into how the car came to be on the tracks is ongoing.