A serious crash that closed U.S. Highway 550 south of Purgatory Resort for almost four hours Wednesday and sent three to the hospital was caused by distracted driving, Colorado State Patrol says.

A Jeep Liberty SUV traveling south drifted out of its lane near milepost 45 and collided head-on, driver’s side to driver’s side, at highway speeds with a Ford U-Haul box truck headed north.

It took Durango Fire Protection District personnel almost two hours to extricate the driver of the Jeep, a 33-year-old man from Montrose. He was taken in a Flight For Life helicopter to Mercy Hospital with serious injuries and was later flown to Denver for treatment, CSP Capt. Angela DeGuelle said.

The driver of the U-Haul, a 29-year-old man from Durango, was taken to Mercy by ambulance and was later flown to another hospital for treatment. His passenger, a 28-year-old man from Bayfield, was taken to the hospital in a private vehicle with minor injuries and later released.

The driver of the Jeep was cited in the incident, DeGuelle said.

Herb Navarro was headed north on a ski trip when he came across the scene not long after it happened, before emergency personnel arrived. Both vehicles were on their sides, a small fire had started in the Jeep, and the driver was pinned inside.

“Flame was coming out the middle of the engine but it was also coming out the very bottom (of the vehicle),” he said.

He used an extinguisher in his truck to knock down most of the flames. Firefighters put out the rest upon arrival. The driver, who suffered serious injuries from the crash, was not harmed by the fire, DFPD Battalion Chief Jim Anderson said.

The passenger of the U-Haul self-extricated from the vehicle, and firefighters helped the driver exit by removing the windshield. Extricating the Jeep’s driver was more complicated, Anderson said.

When cars sustain a front-end impact, their bodies crumple, he explained, and the engine can get shoved backward. Metal, plastic, consoles and other material in front of the vehicle compacted tightly around the driver’s legs upon impact.

“It looked like his legs were shrink-wrapped,” Anderson said.

Every time rescuers tried to remove a piece of material, it shifted pressure onto the trapped driver from another angle. Ultimately, firefighters cut a hole through the bottom of the vehicle and were able to relieve the pressure from that angle. The driver was cut out of his pinned boots as rescuers extricated him.

“It goes to show that when you’re driving, your job is to drive,” DeGuelle said. “The moment you take your eyes off the road is when bad things can happen.”

The technology in newer vehicles – effective air bags and seat belts chief among them – contributed to the survivability of the crash, Anderson said. The fact that everyone was wearing seat belts prevented them from being ejected, which is often a contributing factor in fatal crashes, according to DeGuelle.

“I would say this guy also got lucky,” Anderson added.

rschafir@durangoherald.com