AN AMBULANCE IN DOUGLASVILLE, GEORGIA, COLLIDED with an automobile early Sunday morning while responding to an emergency call. The crash caused the ambulance to roll over and one of the medics onboard was ejected from the tumbling unit. He was airlifted to Grady Memorial Hospital in Atlanta and was listed in stable condition later yesterday.
The driver of the ambulance was treated at Douglas Hospital for minor injuries and the woman driving the car was seriously injured and is in Douglas Hospital also.
Police are reporting that the medics tell them that the woman refused to pull over when they approached her car from the rear with their emergency lights and siren activated. After waiting for her to yield, they pulled out to pass her and she turned her car into the side of the ambulance, starting the rollover. Witnesses said that they saw it roll three times, but news photos from the scene indicate that may not be the case.
SUFFOLK DISTRICT ATTORNEY DANIEL CONLEY announced at a press conference Thursday that there will be no criminal charges filed on the accident last January when a Boston FD ladder truck lost its brakes on a hill and crashed into an apartment building. The wreck claimed the life of Fire Lieutenant Kevin Kelley, a 30-yr. firefighter with the department.
This incident garnered wide coverage around the fire/ems community and it also led to a new look at how the BFD’s vehicle maintenance program is carried out. Once that rock was lifted, all kinds of ugly things came running out, including a lack of certification of the truck mechanics, no routine preventive maintenance program, no daily in-station checks, among other things.
In yesteday’s press conference, Conley said that the Boston Fire Department failed to provide adequate training on how to handle firetrucks in emergency situations. The Boston Globe reports:
The driver did not know to check brake pressure before he got behind the wheel that day and then, when the brakes failed, did not know how to engage secondary braking systems.
Instead, he pumped the brakes, releasing any remaining air pressure from the brake system, and put the truck into neutral, preventing the secondary brakes from engaging.
But the findings underscored the Boston Fire Department’s woeful lack of training, Conley said. Standard industry practices would have dictated that firefighters inspect trucks daily, including air pressure on the brakes, and that they be trained in all aspects of handling trucks.
Conley wrote in his report that (Operator) O’Neill had only “limited classroom instruction and no driver training in the proper use of air brakes in downhill and emergency circumstances.’’
“In point of fact,’’ Conley wrote,’’ Firefighter O’Neill was not aware that his desperate efforts to slow Ladder 26 during its accelerating descent down Parker Hill Avenue could have had the opposite effect.’’
Not only was the training seriously deficient, but the entire maintenance program was exposed as nearly non-existant. The Globe continues:
The main cause was brake failure, probably the result of years of “insufficient and substandard’’ maintenance, Conley said.
“An examination of the truck found reduced braking power on both front wheels, significantly reduced braking power on the rear right wheel, and nonexistent brakes on the rear left.’’
December 02, 2009
Fire truck backs into man
A videographer was shooting video of a church fire in Unicoi County (TN)when the man was caught on camera walking around the scene where fire apparatus was trying to operate.
November 08, 2009
Video removed by owner...
COUNCIL BLUFFS, Iowa - No one was injured when a medical helicopter hit a power line while lifting off from the scene of an accident in Council Bluffs.
Pottawattamie County Sheriff Jeff Danker says the helicopter was called to help a man who had fallen off a ladder Wednesday evening.
November 07, 2009
Video removed by owner...
SUV crashes into firetruck at intersection in Russia.
September 13, 2009
Fire engine on an emergency call collides with a car in the centre of Luton.
Eleven people including five firefighters were among those taken to hospital after the incident which also involved a car and a taxi.
September 08, 2009
A Los Angeles City fire engine has been swallowed by a huge sinkhole caused by a new water main break in the San Fernando Valley.
August 19, 2009
Sorry this video has been removed from the system
Chicago truck company and car collide. Seven people injured.
August 14, 2009
Burning Virginia fire truck, Tower 12 from OWL VFD in Prince William County.
Tower 12 was heading for the City of Manassas to replace Tower 1 for maintenance purposes. The only equipment on board, an axe, haligan bar and it’s ground ladder compliment.
Tower 12 never made it there. As it crossed over Hoadly Road (leaving the east end) Tower 12 caught fire.
July 22, 2009
Detroit Fire Department's Ladder 13 striking two cars on the way to a fire call.
The driver of the big rig told FOX 2 off camera that his front brakes locked and that forced him to crash into a Chevy Impala and then slam into a Pontiac G6.
Witnesses tell a different story and surveillance video taken from the Dollar Max store seems to back their claims. "I think he's a crazy driver," said Basam Safadi, who owns the Dollar Max store.
July 10, 2009
Three Raleigh, North Carolina firefighters were hurt when a ladder truck overturned on the way to a call this morning.
The accident happened around 11:00 AM in downtown Raleigh.
Ladder 4 overturned on South Dawson Street and South Street as the firefighters responded to a report of a house fire.
February 13, 2009
Fire truck crash in Wood County, Ohio.
Why every fireman must wear seatbelts while driving a firetruck. This one did and it saved his life.
Witnesses say that the pick-up truck ran a stop sign and drove in front of the fire truck. The fire truck rolled more than once and the pick-up was thrown across the intersection.
February 23, 2009
Video removed by owner...
Fire truck hits the mirror of a parked car.
Seems to be moving a little to fast.
March 03, 2009
On Tuesday, the Kansas City Fire Department released the dispatch tape from Monday's tragic accident at Ninth Street and Euclid Avenue.
