Baltimore firefighters gather outside hospital after motorcycle crash injures fire captain

BALTIMORE -- Roughly two dozen Baltimore City firefighters waited outside of Shock Trauma Wednesday afternoon, hoping for any news on a fire captain injured while riding his motorcycle to work. 

The motorcycle collided with a car on the 5300 block of Liberty Heights Avenue, according to authorities. 

Police said they didn't know whether anyone inside the car was injured during Wednesday's crash. 

Josh Fannon, president of the Baltimore Fire Officers Union Local 964, said the accident happened around 6 a.m. Wednesday in Northwest Baltimore when the captain was coming into work for an early shift. 

The 45-year-old captain—who has worked for the Baltimore City Fire Department for 16 years—was transported to Shock Trauma. He was still in critical condition as of Wednesday night, according to the fire department.

After the accident, Charles Shultz said he received a call at 7:30 a.m. After that, he drove over to Shock Trauma and has been there ever since. 

He's a member of the Special Service Unit with Box 414 Association, or as other firefighters call them, "gatorade slingers." 

"Just serving the firefighters and the family food and refreshments," said Shultz. 

All of the members of Box 414 Association are volunteers, said Shultz, who signed up over 20 years ago. 

"After 9/11, it was just something I could do to help," Shultz said as he started to cry. "It gets me, people forget 343 firefighters…. all died because they were helping the public and it's just something that we can do, I can do." 

The Special Service Unit responds to second alarm fires or to hospitals for situations like the crash on Wednesday. Its volunteers serve hot dogs or coffee with smiles. 

And Box 414 Association also manages The Baltimore City Fire Museum at 414 Old Town Mall. 

In times like these, their trucks and the food coming out of it is what keeps people going, Shultz said.