It was a dark and cold morning with the temperature around 16 degrees.

Nearing the end of a busy shift around 4:45 a.m., Jason Fusco, a supervisor in our Response Specialist Organization (RSO), was driving west on Interstate 84 in Waterbury, Connecticut, nearing a stretch of highway where it merges from three lanes to two.

Just ahead of him, Jason saw a white tractor trailer trying to merge to his left. But, there was already another tractor trailer vehicle in that lane. The truck pulling the white tractor trailer merged and just caught the end of the trailer already in the lane.

The tractor trailer that was hit suffered minor damage. But, the white tractor trailer bounced back to the right and hit a concrete barrier before coming to a stop with the cab heavily damaged and leaking diesel fuel. 

Acting quickly, Jason used his Eversource vehicle to block traffic, activated emergency lights and called 911.

He wanted to block off the accident and ensure another vehicle didn’t collide with the damaged tractor trailer. Another vehicle with larger emergency lights quickly parked next to Jason’s vehicle with his lights on.

Concerned about the fuel leak, Jason helped the dazed driver out of the cab and moved him to safety before police and firefighters arrived and took over.

With the scene secure, Jason returned to his vehicle to finish out the last minutes of his 12-hour shift that had begun the previous evening.

“It was nice to be able to do something and help,” said Jason. “I wanted to make sure no one got hurt.”

As a supervisor in the RSO organization, Jason regularly works 12-hour shifts along with response specialists on his team, generally from 6 p.m. to 6 a.m. Earlier that evening, they spent several hours at the scene of another accident where a vehicle had collided with a utility pole.