VIEWER DISCRETION: Driver killed when Subaru Outback hits concrete electricity transmission tower on Wiley Road, Schaumburg.
Schaumburg police and firefighter/paramedics responded about 8:48 PM Sunday March 11, 2018 to a report of a crash with injuries and possibly a car fire, 42.058756, -88.045593 (Meacham Road and Interstate 90 Schaumburg, Il). Police and firefighter/paramedics received a report that a car was on fire and split in half.
A caller reported one person was on the ground near the vehicle.
Ambulance 52’s crew on arrival reported a fully-involved vehicle fire with one patient on the ground. A car hit a tall, concrete electricity transmission tower located between Wiley Road and Interstate 90 — west of the Meacham Road bridge over I-90.
Firefighter/paramedics were immediately working Advanced Life Support for a patient with extreme life-threatening injuries. However, the only occupant of the vehicle, who was a male teen, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The victim was identified as 16-year-old Conant High School student Graham W. Fath, who lived on Steward Street in an unincorporated area near southwest Schaumburg.
Police report that Fath was traveling eastbound on Wiley Road in a 2010 Subaru Outback when he crashed near 1425 Wiley Road. He was approaching a curve that routes southbound on Wiley Road. The Subaru Outback crossed eastbound Wiley Road into the westbound lane, and left the roadway on the shoulder on the north side of Wiley Road. The vehicle hit a tall concrete-reinforced electricity transmission tower, splitting the front of the vehicle away from the back of the vehicle. The impact ejected the driver, who was found 15-20 feet from the transmission tower on the pavement of Wiley Road. The vehicle also caught fire and was burning when firefighters arrived. Firefighter/paramedics extinguished the vehicle fire and a field fire that was spreading on the north side of the road.
Simultaneously, a crew of firefighter/paramedics initially started medical work on Fath, but he was pronounced dead at the scene.
Police believe speed was a factor in the crash.
Schaumburg police report there were no indications of involvement of any other vehicles at the time of their current investigation. The Schaumburg Police Department is investigating this accident with the assistance of the Major Case Assistance Team (MCAT) Serious Traffic Accident Reconstruction Team. Wiley Road was closed in the area between Tower Road and an area just west of curve of Wiley Road near I-90 and Meacham Road.
Almost four years ago, Graham Fath rescued a father and son while rafting on the Vermillion River. On June 28, 2013, Graham Fath and his older brother Colin and two other Schaumburg boys rescued an off-duty Niles police commander, James P. Elenz, and his 10-year-old son Ryan, who were trapped in the rolling boil of water at the base of a dam in the Vermillion River near Oglesby, Illinois.
James and Ryan Elenz were held near the face of the dam by the strong current, and could not free themselves as water flowing over the dam entered their raft. In another party of rafters, Graham Fath, then 11, and his brother Colin, and two other boys were approaching the dangerous scene in their own raft, and recognized that Elenz and his son were needing help.
From a point below the dam, the four boys directed their raft near Elenz’s raft. James Elenz handed his son Ryan over to the boys, but then the boys’ raft also became caught by the current, which was also holding their raft against the face of the dam. James Elenz’s raft was released, and the older Elenz went downstream to alert help. Graham, his brother and the other boys used their paddles and hands in an attempt to get out of the boil. Water from the dam also entered their raft, and two of their paddles were lost in the river during the chaos.
Two kayakers came upon the scene several minutes later. They went ashore and threw one end of a line to the boys. The kayakers then pulled the raft from the boil and to safety ashore. Ryan Elenz was treated at the scene for mild hypothermia. Graham became cold from exposure to cold water, but along with the other boys, he continued rafting down the river.
Graham, Colin, and the other Schaumburg-area boys in 2014 were awarded the Carnegie Medal for heroism for rescuing James and Ryan Elenz from drowning.
Schaumburg Fire Department Response
FIRE/MEDIC UNITS ASSIGNED …
ENGINE(S): E52 E54
TRUCK(S): T52 Second Schaumburg Truck
SQUAD(S): SQD55
CHIEF(S): BC5
EMS: A52 A ??
SPECIAL: Light trailer
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