(Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS) A Manchester firefighter gets ready to open a hose line to quell the flames coming from the vehicle that struck a tree on the southbound side of I-293 Sunday morning.

MANCHESTER — A 43-year-old Hooksett resident sustained serious injuries when the 2010 Subaru Forester she was driving south on I-293 left the highway, crashed into a tree then rolled over and caught fire, state police said.

Although Laura Ann Archambault’s injuries are serious, they are not believed to be life-threatening, according to reports from the scene.

State police troopers, along with firefighters and ambulance personnel arrived at the scene at about 11 a.m., where they found Archambault out of the vehicle and being assisted by passersby. Medical personnel began administering first aid, while firefighters worked to extinguish the flames coming from the front of the vehicle.

Archambault was transported to Elliot Hospital for treatment, police said.

Other crews assisted the medics and firefighters by blocking two of the three lanes of travel for about an hour. With just one lane open, traffic soon backed up a considerable distance from the scene. Traffic is typically moderate, sometimes heavy, on the southbound side of I-293 on mid- to late-Sunday mornings during summers and into the fall, the result of motorists headed home to southern New Hampshire and Massachusetts from a weekend away.

(Photo by JEFFREY HASTINGS) Firefighters and medical personnel load the injured driver into an ambulance following the single-car crash on I-293 southbound Sunday morning. The injuries were considered serious but not life-threatening.

Police said a preliminary investigation shows that Archambault’s vehicle left the right side of the highway “for an unknown reason,” before striking the tree and coming to rest adjacent to a guardrail.

Police said all aspects of the crash remain under investigation, and ask anyone who may have additional information to contact Trooper Patrick Morrissey at 223-8815 or patrick.c.morrissey@dos.nh.gov.

Contributor Jeffrey Hastings provided reporting for this story.

Dean Shalhoup may be reached at 594-1256 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.

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