Apparatus Incidents VA & IL - AGAIN? WTF

WEST VIRGINIA FIREFIGHTERS CRITICAL FOLLOWING EJECTION FROM APPARATUS WHILE RESPONDING

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

4 Firefighters of the Bradley-Prosperity (W. Va) FD were responding to a crash around noon today in heavy rain conditions when they were involved in a very serious crash. Initial reports are that the FF driving lost control of the rig and ended up in the median....and 3 of the 4 Firefighters were seriously injured with at least 2 of them ejected from the overturning apparatus....with at least one suffering from serious head injuries. The Firefighters were responding to an area near North Beckley when the driver lost control of the pick-up-sized apparatus and ended up in the median. The apparatus hydroplaned and went into a sideways slide and then began to rollover. There were no injuries in the initial Turnpike crash.

Update: Hampshire, IL Apparatus Crash

Tuesday, May 5, 2009

Rick Heine, a lieutenant with the Hampshire Fire Protection District, remained in a hospital Monday and the fire district is without one of its two pumper trucks after a weekend traffic crash.
Lt. Pat Gengler of the Kane County Sheriff's Department said a fire engine crashed into a utility pole along Kelley Road, a mile east of Harmony Road, at about 12:13 p.m. Sunday. The crash mangled the engine's front so badly that Heine had to be cut out of the wreckage. Heine, 50, of Hampshire, was flown by helicopter to St. Anthony's Medical Center in Rockford.
Fire Capt. Trevor Herrmann said Heine remained in that hospital Monday afternoon, suffering from back and neck injuries.
The only other person in the truck, Firefighter Jeff Becker, 21, of Hampshire, was taken by ambulance to Provena Saint Joseph Hospital in Elgin, where he was released after treatment for minor injuries, according to Herrmann.
Gengler said the crash was precipitated by a pickup truck driven by John R. Hanson, 74, of Hampshire. Hanson also had been eastbound along Kelley. But seeing someone he knew at the roadside to his left, Gengler said, Hanson stopped the pickup, turned it diagonally across the roadway and leaned out the truck's window to talk to his friend.
Gengler said that as the fire engine crested a hill that blocked long-range vision, Becker, at the wheel of the fire engine, suddenly saw the pickup truck part-way across the road in front of him. Becker steered the engine partly onto the right shoulder to avoid the pickup, "but there was really no shoulder there, just a dropoff," Gengler said. "He lost control and hit a pole. It's a wonder the fire engine didn't roll over."
Hanson was ticketed for illegal parking in the roadway.
Herrmann said the two firefighters were doing a driver training exercise at the time. Every firefighter who drives emergency equipment must take a certain number of hours of such training drives each year, he said. The truck was not using its flashing lights or siren.
Herrmann said the fire engine, a 1986 Mack, probably is a total loss. That leaves the district with just one pumper for now. But he said the district has made arrangements with Burlington Fire Protection District to back up the Hampshire district when needed with Burlington's extra fire engine.