A man was heavily entrapped and suffered life-threatening injuries and a second man suffered serious injuries in separate crashes minutes apart on Interstate 90 near Huntley Thursday evening.
The Huntley Fire Protection District and Illinois State Police (ISP) responded around 5:10 p.m. to eastbound Interstate 90 at mile marker 48 for a report of a vehicle crash with injuries.
Fire crews responding came upon a second crash around 5:17 p.m., roughly a mile west of the first crash, at mile marker 47 and diverted additional fire units, which arrived within two minutes.
Firefighters reported a heavily damaged vehicle in the middle lane with the adult male driver trapped inside, fire officials said.
A medical helicopter was requested to the scene but was unavailable due to weather conditions.
Firefighters worked for approximately 35 minutes to free the heavily trapped victim.
Fire officials said he was transported by ambulance to Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin with life-threatening injuries.
Emergency crews learned at the scene that a second vehicle, possibly a semi-truck, may have been involved in the crash.
Firefighters did not locate or make contact with any additional vehicles or drivers but ISP also confirmed a second vehicle was involved.
ISP said the ramp from Route 47 to Interstate 90 eastbound was shut down and the right three lanes of eastbound Interstate 90 were also shut down for five hours before being reopened around 10 p.m.
At the scene of the first crash at mile marker 48, two vehicles were involved and two people were evaluated by paramedics.
An adult male was transported to Advocate Sherman Hospital in Elgin in serious condition, fire officials said. The second person involved declined additional medical treatment.
The left two lanes of traffic were closed for nearly an hour while emergency crews operated at the scene, ISP said.
The Huntley Fire Protection District said they thank the Illinois Tollway Authority HELP trucks, an off-duty Sleepy Hollow police officer and the Illinois State Police for their assistance.
“We also appreciate the Hampshire Fire Protection District for covering additional incidents in our District during this time,” fire officials said.
Both crashes remain under investigation by the Illinois State Police, which did not release further information on the causes.