Fire truck struck by driver at accident scene on Interstate 70
WASHINGTON, Pa. (KDKA) - According to a local fire chief, in his 15 years as a firefighter, he's noticed a significant increase in reckless driving in the past year in South Strabane. Saturday night, it nearly cost one of their lives.
Fire Chief Jordan Cramer showed KDKA the damage to one of their fire trucks, worth $50,000. The locks to a compartment are broken, and they're now using bungee cords to seal it, and electricity is not working correctly on one side of the vehicle.
"The compartment should be illuminated like this," Cramer said as he lifted a functioning compartment door.
Even the rims and hubcaps of a tire are scratched.
The cause goes back to Saturday around 8:30 p.m. when crews were called to respond to a crash on I-70 eastbound. A truck carrying a camper left the roadway onto a hillside, and the camper overturned. A pick-up truck also was facing the opposite way of traffic.
To help control cars on the highway, Cramer drove a ladder truck to the scene with two other firefighters, positioning it in a way that warns drivers to slow down and protects their crews.
"It's right on a sharp end that doesn't provide much visibility," Cramer said.
However, when they arrived, they didn't get out for their safety, as cars whipped by them, causing the 50-something-1000-pound truck to shake.
"We were having a conversation about it's a matter of time before one of our vehicles or one of our folks are struck on the highway as we're watching all of the traffic fly past us," Cramer said.
This is exactly what happened.
Despite having warning lights on, a car traveling over the 55 mph speed limit hit the truck while the firefighters were still inside. The woman driving that car is the only person who was hurt and is recovering from injuries at the hospital.
"These aren't isolated incidents. This is happening over and over and over again," Cramer said.
Even that night, just a little later, another speeding car nearly struck a firefighter placing flares on the roadway.
"As a fire chief, it's one of the most terrifying situations that we're in because we can go to fires, we can do all these things, where we're able to control the situation," Cramer said.
When it comes to the roadways, it's up to drivers to pay attention, slow down, and move over when they see emergency vehicles.
"Nine times out of 10, it seems to not be happening on the highways around here," Cramer said.
He urges lawmakers and PennDOT to take action before one of their own gets hit.
"Every single one of these firefighters that gets on these apparatus, their family, their kids, all of them rely on the public to take notice of the emergency vehicles, and to slow down, so that they can go home at the end of the day," Cramer said.
Cramer hopes PennDOT can provide heavy vehicles to protect their crews on scenes. He also suggests the need for media campaigns, and targeted law enforcement to curb the problem.
KDKA reached out to Pennsylvania State Police Troop B about potential charges against the driver who hit the fire truck, but they could not provide KDKA with any updates at the time.
