VIDEO: Twisted metal and side-curtain air bags gave a pretty good sense of how bad a crash was Wednesday afternoon, but the Town of Pelican's deputy fire chief already knew he needed to work quickly. "Time is of the essence," Norm Peterson said. Peterson's department got the 911 page of a two-car crash on Highway 8 and River Bend Road, about two miles east of Rhinelander, around 12:30 p.m. The cars both ended up in the ditch on the north side of Highway 8, out of traffic. Police reduced traffic to one lane while medics treated the injured, but cars were able to still get through in both directions. Oneida County Sgt. Greg Gardner said a tan sedan was headed east and a black pickup truck was headed west on Highway 8.