BOSTON -- Fire, police and EMS crews that responded to Monday's Interstate 90 connector tunnel accident that killed a woman on her way to the airport said they didn't stop to think about the danger of tons of concrete dangling overhead when they went to render aid.

"It's what we do every day," one fire lieutenant said.

At a news conference Thursday, one of the first EMTs to the scene, Greg MacCurtain, said he and his partner, Michael Connolly, got a call of a motor vehicle accident to the tunnel. They arrived to find "a pile of rubble with what appeared to be a bumper sticking out."

They called for backups, MacCurtain said, and went to see if there was anyone in the car who needed medical assistance, walking underneath a large, dangling ceiling panel that weighed 3 tons.

"One victim was bleeding slightly from head. My partner treated him and then a trooper said there was another victim inside the vehicle," MacCurtain said.

Angel Del Valle, 46, and his wife, Milena, 38, were on their way to Logan to pick up relatives returning from a vacation when several 3-ton concrete ceiling panels fell on their car, crushing Milena Del Valle. Angel Del Valle escaped out the driver's side window with minor injuries.

The accident has sparked a state and federal investigation into Big Dig construction practices and safety inspections across the entire metro-Boston highway system. Gov. Mitt Romney has also called for the ouster of Massachusetts Turnpike Authority chief Matt Amorello.

[See separate story on this Web site.]

The incident commander for the scene, Boston Deputy Fire Chief Joseph Finn, said once crews crawled under the rubble surrounding the car and determined that Milena Del Valle was no longer alive, they had to decide how best to clear the debris off the crushed car and get the vehicle out of the tunnel.

They determined that they had to first remove a dangling, 3-ton piece of concrete that was hanging over the car. Working with Massachusetts Turnpike Authority crews, they used a rope to lasso the dangling concrete and pull it down. They then used a front-end loader and chains to pull the remaining debris out of the way. Only then, they said, could they drag the vehicle safely out of harm's way to the end of the tunnel.

"Any men and women would have done the same thing. It's in our nature. If there's somebody in need of assistance, you run to that need," Greg MacCurtain said.

The crews were given citations for their work. MacCurtain is also the son of Acting Fire Commissioner Kevin MacCurtain.