Multiple fire departments, towing companies and St. Clair Police Department respond to a fiery crash on state Route 11 on Saturday night. (Photo courtesy of Calcutta Volunteer Fire Department)

ST. CLAIR — According to a police report provided by St. Clair Township Police Department, witnesses stated that a driver racing his vehicle lost control of the car and struck the center barricade on state Route 11, Saturday evening.

The car, a 1999 Chevy Corvette driven by Kenneth Barnes, 75, of Smith Street in East Liverpool, who was cited for failure to control, caught fire after impact with the barricade.

Barnes was heading north on state Route 11 when the incident occurred at approximately 5:45 p.m.

The police report indicates the roads were wet due to rain and Capt. Derrick Smith, Glenmoor Volunteer Fire Department (GVFD) noted that the incident happened not too long after a short micro storm.

Barnes was able to get out of the car with no injuries before the fire spread from the engine to the car’s interior, according to Smith.

Smith noted that the way the car ended up against the barricade was a factor in Barnes being able to escape the car.

“If his driver’s door had been against that (the barricade) I don’t know if he would have been able to get out of that crash,” Smith said. “That’s the scary part, I don’t know how he would have been able to get over that.”

Smith said he doesn’t know if the car spun during the incident, but at a minimum he did not maintain his lane.

Smith noted that the GVFD was already at the station getting ready to head out for a lines down call where a tree had fallen across power lines when they got the car which allowed them to respond so quickly to the scene.

Smith said the engine compartment was on fire and just starting to spread to the interior when they arrived on the scene. They were able to put the fire out with one hose in less than 15 minutes.

St. Clair Police closed both the north and south bound sides of the highway during the incident.

Smith said the police department’s thinking in getting the roadway shut down, played a major role in the fire department on scene quickly.

“We ended up coming southbound in the northbound lane,” Smith said. We asked twice where it was and both times we were told it was southbound. When we were almost all the way to state Route 11 where you turn off to cross (state Route) 7 we were told that it was actually on the northbound. With the road being shut down because it was in the fast lane, they told us to just come down southbound since we were already there.”

Smith noted that the police department shutting the whole road down for safety and allowing the fire trucks to come southbound in the northbound lane greatly affected the outcome. This allowed them to get there in time to prevent it from being a worse scenario such as reaching the gas tank.

No firefighters or police officers were injured.

St. Clair Police Department, Glenmoor and Calcutta volunteer fire departments, and First Class and Calcutta Towing were on scene. Calcutta Towing assisted with the scene and First-Class towing removed the car.