Earleigh Heights Fire Chief Hurt In Crash En Route To Fire

SEVERNA PARK, MD – The Earleigh Heights fire chief is at a Baltimore hospital after he was in a car crash en route to a Severna Park fire, officials say. Clifton Krok, 35, chief of the Earleigh Heights Volunteer Fire Company, is being treated at the R. Adams Cowley Shock Trauma Center for injuries he suffered in a collision Wednesday afternoon in Severna Park.

According to the Anne Arundel County Fire Department, Krok was driving a fire department SUV as he responded to a house fire in the 200 block of West Haven Drive. Just after noon, Kork's SUV was involved in an accident with a second vehicle and he then struck a utility pole near Baltimore Annapolis Boulevard and Hill Road.

Anne Arundel County Police say Krok was northbound on MD-648 responding with lights and siren to the fire. As Krok and other fire department apparatus attempted to maneuver around the vehicles yielding to them, Krok’s department-issued Chevy Tahoe struck the left side of a Honda Accord, then went off the road and hit a utility pole.

The driver of the Honda — Joyce M. Clark, 63, of Severna Park — was not injured.

Police say the cause of the crash remains under investigation and any charges would be filed after a review by the State’s Attorney.

Other fire department personnel responding to the house fire came across the accident and cared for Chief Krok before paramedics took him to Shock Trauma, where he is reported in stable condition.

Representatives from the fire department and the Anne Arundel County Volunteer Firefighters Association are with Chief Krok’s family at Shock Trauma.

Firefighters responding to the West Haven Drive incident located a kitchen fire which was quickly extinguished and confined to the kitchen. There were no injuries at that incident.

»Patch file photo