Md. firefighter's severed arm reattached after crash

LANDOVER, Md. Four Maryland firefighters were among seven people injured when a tractor trailer rear-ended a firetruck, causing a destructive chain of events.

The worst of the injuries was 29-year-old Lt. Ryan Emmons, from West Lanham Hills Volunteer Fire House 28, whose right arm was severed below the elbow in the wreck.

Doctors in Baltimore were able to re-attach the firefighter's arm, CBS Station WJZ reports.

The accident occurred at 3:00 a.m. ET Wednesday, on the inner-loop of 495, south of Route 50, in Landover, Prince George's County Police said.

Police say after the truck hit the fire engine and overturned, causing the fire truck to hit a wall and slide a couple hundred feet, and a Jeep to crash.

Firefighters kept Lt. Emmons' arm on ice, as he was rushed to Union Memorial Hospital in Baltimore. There, a highly-skilled team of surgeons -- the same doctors who attached limbs to a wounded war veteran this week -- successfully reattached his arm.

"It requires repairing everything. The bone injury, the tendons, the arteries, the veins, the nerves," said Dr. James Higgins, Union Memorial Hand Center.