Bill Lunn said he had been warned to expect days like Wednesday — when everything happens at once.

The chief of the Slippery Rock Township Volunteer Fire Department said two calls for assistance arrived within a minute of each other — at 2:46 and 2:47 p.m.

“I’m grateful for the assistance our department gets from neighboring fire departments,” he said.

But Lunn was busy with his job, he noted, and was not in town for either call. Speaking on cell phone from the cab of his truck yesterday, he said he does not know which came first.

One call, he said, involved a young girl learning to drive a standard transmission.

“Her family put her in a vehicle on a long lane off Muddy Creek Road,” Lunn said. “She was either in the wrong gear or in the correct gear and popped the clutch.”

Lunn said the young driver apparently lost control of her car, which left the road and careened over an embankment, dropping 40 to 50 feet into Slippery Rock Creek.

“I was told that no one was hurt,” Lunn said, “but to my mind, they’re lucky to be alive.” He added he was not sure if the vehicle had yet been removed from the creek.

The Slippery Rock Department was assisted by firefighters from Scott Township and Portersville.

At the same time, firefighters from Shenango and Portersville departments assisted other Slippery Rock Township volunteers in rescuing a youngster in a motorized wheelchair. Lunn said he had been told the chair had left the paved path, tumbled over an embankment and tossed the occupant out.

Crews dragged the chair up the hillside, then rescued the boy, he said.

“They said he really wasn’t hurt either,” Lunn said. “They said once he was put back into the chair he was able to go about his day.”

Lunn said he did not have names for either of the individuals involved in Wednesday’s incidents.

However, he praised the cooperation between local fire departments who turn out to help people in need and to assist fellow departments. “It can be difficult to get people during the day,” he said.

Lunn noted that statewide, volunteer department rosters are down by 40 percent.