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Four firefighters and a civilian were involved in a fire apparatus-vs.-pickup truck collision Saturday in Indianapolis, Indiana.
Engine 20 was responding to a reported residence fire with possible entrapment when the collision occurred. Engine 20 had cleared the intersection of 10th and Emerson and proceeded though when the vehicle collided with the truck. The driver of the truck struck the engine’s midsection at the pump panel and pushed it side up onto two wheels. The engine slid through the eastbound lanes of the intersection, across 10th, where it hit a turn lane pole, several brick pillars, a wrought iron fence, and a large pile of rocks. Before stopping, the rear end of the engine swung around and hit the traffic signal, sheared it off its base which caused the traffic pole to fly completely up and over the engine, landing in the street.
The combination of the brick pillars, fence, rocks, and the base of the pole puncturing the underside of the engine caused significant damage to the rig. According to Indianapolis police (IMPD) on scene, Family Video had placed the rocks and fencing in that space due to the number of collisions occurring at the intersection that sent cars in their parking lot. Thankfully the engine did not completely flip nor was anyone seriously hurt, including the driver of the truck.
The crews were shaken but grateful to be relatively unscathed. The driver of the truck was cooperative with IMPD investigators and released from the scene. Per standard protocol a Portable Breathalyzer Test (PBT) was administered on scene to the engineer (driver) of Engine 20, which registered 0.0. The engineer is a 22 year veteran of the Indianapolis Fire Department who has been the engineer on Engine 20 C Shift for 14 years. This the first time he has been involved in an accident as the engineer. Engine 20 is a 2010 Ferrara, and in the department’s third busiest apparatus, with 5,002 responses in 2017.
RITA L. REITH is a battalion chief with the Indianapolis (IN) Fire Department and serves as the agency’s public information officer.
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