I-81 Wreck Claims Life of Firefighter, Flight Paramedic

• Smyth County News
• 2009 Jan 28

Earl Morphew Jr., veteran firefighter and paramedic with Chilhowie and Bristol Va. Fire Departments and flight paramedic with Wellmont Health Systems, died Wednesday morning in a collision with a vehicle traveling the wrong way on Interstate 81 at Abingdon, police said.

Virginia State Police Spokesman Sgt. Michael Conroy said Morphew, 48, was driving a 2001 Hyundai four-door southbound at Exit 14 when it was struck by a 1988 Ford Econoline van driven north in the southbound lanes by Michael Eugene Garner, 36, of Coeburn.

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