KABETOGAMA- A 61-year-old snowmobiler was struck and killed by a Kabetogama Fire Department ambulance Saturday afternoon as he was attempting to cross a roadway, according to a release from the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Department.
Medical responders from the Kabetogama Fire Department were traveling eastbound on Ash River Trail enroute to a medical call at about 3:35 p.m. when the ambulance collided with a snowmobile driven by Jeffrey Joe Blom, 61, of Thief River Falls, about a half mile east of Highway 53. Blom was traveling northbound on the Arrowhead State Trail and was attempting to cross over Ash River Trail.
Despite lifesaving efforts by medical personnel, Blom was declared dead at the scene.
County sheriff supervising deputy Nate Skelton said that Blom was traveling with his wife, who was behind him at the time of the accident.
The release did not indicate how road conditions, visibility, or other factors may have contributed to the accident. Skelton said that the Minnesota State Patrol is doing a “full reconstruction” of the accident.
It was the second such incident of a vehicle-snowmobile collision at a road crossing in Minnesota in the past three weeks. On Jan. 22, a 55-year-old man suffered non-life-threatening injuries in a collision with a truck on Highway 95 near Princeton.
Most snowmobile fatalities result from drivers losing control of a sled and colliding with a tree or other objects, and fatalities at trail/road intersections are rare. According to DNR annual reports, two of the 11 snowmobile fatalities during the 2020-21 season involved vehicle-snowmobile collisions, one in Aitkin County and one in LeSeuer County. Both victims were males in their mid-50s.
St. Louis County Sheriff’s deputies, Kabetogama first responders, International Falls Ambulance, Minnesota State Patrol, Minnesota DNR, and the U.S. Forest Service assisted with the call.