MIDDLE TOWNSHIP-- On Tuesday, Jan. 26 Middle Township Ambulance Corps EMT Joseph Sims, was involved in a serious accident while driving ambulance unit 1409 at the intersection of Indian Trail Road and Route 9.

According to police Sims was en-route to his Lower Township home where he had just learned his 85 year-old father Joseph Sims Sr. had perished in a structure fire.

Middle Township police Chief Chris Leusner said Sims was "on the clock" at the time and preliminary indications are that the siren and emergency lights were on as he headed south on Route 9. Leusner, also said Sims "was not responding to the fire in an official capacity."

The ambulance collided with a Chevy Trailblazer. The driver of the Trailblazer was airlifted to the Regional Trauma Unit at AtlantiCare Regional Medical Center in Atlantic City by South Star medevac with injuries described by police as serious.

There was no patient in the ambulance at the time of the crash, police said. The front seat passenger of the ambulance was identified as EMT Paul Hewitt, 24, of North Cape May. Hewitt and Sims, were transported to Cape Regional Medical Center with non-life threatening injuries.

The Court House Fire Department, Atlanticare paramedics, Belleplain Emergency Corps, and additional EMS units from Middle Township responded to the scene.

The crash is under investigation by Middle Township Police, with the assistance of the Cape May County Prosecutor's Office Crash Team.