Five die in Route 97 collision and fire

By DAVID HULSE

POND EDDY, NY — The scene of a fatal highway accident has a particular cold, colorless feeling anytime of year. Multiply that by five and you begin to approach the impact at the scene of a March 17 head-on collision on Route 97 in the Hillside section of Lumberland.

State police said Lumberland Fire Department volunteers responding to the 3:30 p.m. alarm found two cars, one of them fully involved in flames, about a half-mile north of the Van Tuyl Road intersection.

After the fire was extinguished, the bodies of four of the five passengers of the burned 1996 Pontiac were recovered. They included the driver, Denise A. Fisher, 46, of Eldred, her granddaughter, Beatrice Amato, 3, of Barryville, Fisher’s daughter-in-law, Ruth C. Wildrick, 25, and Wildrick’s son Alex M. Fisher, 2, both of Port Jervis.

Fisher’s daughter, Erin M. Amato, 21, of Barryville, was the only survivor of the Fisher car. Police said she was transported to Bon Secours Community Hospital in Port Jervis, where she was treated and released for contusions, bruises and burns to her hands.

The driver and sole occupant of the second car, Debra L. Rizzo, 45, of Barryville, also died in the crash. Sullivan County Coroner Tom Warren made the pronouncements at the scene.

Officials at the scene agreed that the accident was one of the deadliest in local history.

The recovery operation and police investigation closed the highway for approximately four hours as darkness closed in. A trooper at the northern perimeter of the scene intercepted concerned friends and relatives apologetically, telling them that confirmed identifications had not yet been made. “I wish I could have helped them, but it would be worse to get it wrong,” she said.

Police said their preliminary investigation revealed that Rizzo’s 1993 Mercury was traveling north on Route 97 and crossed over into the southbound lane striking the Fisher vehicle. Under the fire department’s portable lights, the Pontiac’s remains were nearly unidentifiable as an automobile. “We think it was a Grand Am,” said one investigator.

The crushed front end of Rizzo’s larger vehicle had been twisted about 45 degrees by the impact. There was no immediate apparent cause for the accident. The weather was clear, the highway was dry and the gradual turn in the road provides an open line of sight for several hundred yards. Lead Investigator Rick Sauer said the police investigation is continuing and will not be completed for four to six weeks.

Yulan firefighters and EMS personnel from the Eldred American Legion Ambulance Service and Mobile Life assisted Lumberland fire and ambulance personnel at the scene. Highland Lake firefighters were called to standby.