6 CATS, 1 DOG, RESCUED AFTER SUV AND CAMPER OVERTURN ON HOMETOWN HILL

Overturned Camper, SUV, Bottom of Hometown Hill, SR309, Tamaqua, 6-18-2014 (21) - Copy — Traffic on the Hometown Hill (SR309) was backed up for over two hours Wednesday after an SUV and the trailer it was hauling overturned. 7 pets were safely rescued.

A Tamaqua family and their 7 pets escaped serious injury after their SUV and attached travel-trailer overturned around 6 PM today (Wednesday, June 18, 2014) at the bottom of the Hometown Hill (SR309) in Tamaqua.
The family, consisting of two parents and an adult son, was able to get out of their overturned Ford Expedition with help from an unidentified passerby who offered a knife to help cut their seatbelts. Both the mother and son were taken to St. Luke’s Hospital – Miners Campus for precautionary treatment, while the father stayed to help police and Tamaqua Area Animal Rescue volunteers search and capture the family’s six missing cats – which remained missing after the accident.
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Overturned Camper, SUV, Bottom of Hometown Hill, SR309, Tamaqua, 6-18-2014 (100) - Copy — Schuylkill County Humane Officer Sue Schafer holds one of the six cats rescued from the overturned travel trailer.

The father, who recently purchased the trailer, told police that they were in the process of moving to Texas, when their overloaded camper started to lean while traveling north up Hometown Hill. He added that, despite trying to compensate, he was unable to prevent it from overturning.
Toppled boxes and other personal belongings inside the camper made it difficult for officers and volunteers to search, locate and capture the missing cats. It took over an hour to eventually locate and capture all the cats. Luckily, all six cats, and one dog (which was in the SUV at the time) escaped serious injury.
Helping the father retrieve their pets were Tamaqua Police officers Michael Hobbs, Karl Harig, Schuylkill County Humane Officer Sue Schafer and a member of the Tamaqua Volunteers group.
Schafer, who also serves as the President of the Tamaqua Area Animal Rescue, could be seen putting the cats into multiple pet carriers for transport back to the family’s home on South Lehigh Street in Tamaqua.
Crews with Hope’s Towing and Collision, Tamaqua, worked carefully to overturn the camper to allow for safe rescue of any cats that remained hidden in the overturned camper.
Responding were Tamaqua Police, Rush Township Police, Tamaqua Rescue, Tamaqua Ambulance, Tamaqua Fire Department, Hometown Fire Company and others.
The incident resulted in traffic to be backed up in both directions of SR309 for a couple hours. Tamaqua Fire Police and Hometown Fire Police detoured vehicles around the scene while rescuers retrieved the cats and crews cleared the scene.
Both lanes were opened 8:30 PM today.

Click HERE to view the Morning Call story.
Click HERE to view the WBRE TV / PAHomepage story.

Below is a Facebook post from family friend Dave Fortin:
At approximately 5 PM today, this is the wreck that ensued at the bottom of Hometown Hill on route 309 that arrived at to help the family.
While carefully going around the turn, the driver, Jamie Marcum, felt the trailer beginning to lose control. While trying to regain control of the vehicle, the trailer flipped and due to the trailer hitch, quickly pulled their truck on its side smashing the windshield and the side doors. The passengers Sherrelynn Mercer Marcum, Jamie Marcum, Anthony LostSoul Lionsaber (Anthony Marcum), who were all wearing their seat belts, as well as all of their animals, which were miraculously unharmed during the entire process, are somehow completely okay with only minor scrapes and bruises to the family. A big thanks goes out to the huge help of the animal rescue team, Andrew Leibenguth, the Tamaqua police, Tamaqua ambulance, the clean up crew, and Hopes towing. The Marcum family lost just about everything today but are just thankful to be alive. Many tears were shed today in leu of the situation but surrounded by a team of friends, family, and the support of our local community, we were able to take care of everything and most importantly, everyone. Thank the heavens!