WILMINGTON — A car heading down the Whiteface Memorial Highway jumped a guard rail, hit a power pole and got stuck in a tree at noon Sunday.

The passengers — a male and a female — were hurt and trapped in their vehicle for nearly two hours because live power lines and a half-acre fire kept fire crews from getting to them in a timely fashion. Town Supervisor Randy Preston said the passengers could’ve been helped sooner if the New York State Electric and Gas Corporation had just turned off the grid.

“People were seriously hurt,” Preston said. “This was a life of death situation, and NYSEG would not turn off the power.”

With traffic backed up on both sides of the road, fire crews eventually got to the car, having to duck underneath power lines and walk through the woods. They used the jaws of life to free the woman from the car. Crews then had to carry the passengers away from the scene, still avoiding live wires. The woman was transported to the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington, Vermont, via North Country Life Flight helicopter. Lake Placid EMS transported the man, but Preston wasn’t sure what hospital they brought him to. The Bloomingdale Volunteer Fire Department provided mutual aide.

Even though the hurt passengers were removed from the scene, there were still live wires on the road.

“If our fire crew hadn’t remained on scene,” Preston said, “I bet someone would’ve tried to drive under those lines and put themselves in danger.”

NYSEG officials could not be reached for comment as of press time.