It was a rough going for ferry travelers to South Whidbey on Sunday evening.

As cars unloaded from the ferry at 8:45 p.m. Sunday, the driver of a Jeep Cherokee lost control, hit seven other cars and rear-ended a sedan, totaling the smaller car.

Three people in the vehicles were taken to Whidbey General Hospital for treatment of minor injuries, from cuts to back pain.

“It was amazing, the one rig just totaled the sedan,” said Fire District 3 Deputy Chief Jon Beck. “It had the damage of a highway-speed collision.”

Beck said the driver blamed a stuck throttle for the damage.

The pile-up was the topper in a busy weekend for Fire District 3 responders. At one point during the weekend, all five Whidbey General ambulances were transporting patients.

“There was no rhyme or reason, they were just random medical calls from one end of the spectrum to the other,” Beck said. “We just got really fortunate that’s all we had.”

Emergency workers responded to more than 30 calls from Friday to Monday morning. The fire district averages about five calls a day.

“This was quite a bit more than most days,” Beck said. “We’ve been slammed with medical calls.”

No fires were reported. However, two fire alarms were triggered at Langley Middle School, Saturday night and Monday night, and another, unrelated fire alarm went off on Shore Avenue.

“They’re having detector problems,” Beck said of the middle school.