A firefighter driving a fire truck in an Imperial, Missouri, neighborhood lost control of the vehicle due to icy roads while responding to a 911 call for a car crash that had occurred earlier that morning. The fire truck went careening down a hill, spinning a full 360 degrees and smashing into the same vehicle that had crashed in that location before finally coming to a stop, as KSDK reports.
The fire engine narrowly avoided crashing into homes but was unable to avoid the Chevy Cruze that was awaiting assistance from members of the Rock Community Fire Protection District. The fire truck was fitted with tire chains at the time of the crash, according to KSDK, but that apparently wasn’t enough to conquer the icy, downhill slope of the 1700 block of Parkside Place.
Fire Chief Kevin Wingbermuehle told reporters that the firefighter driving the truck reacted quickly to minimize any damage to the neighborhood. Per FOX2:
Neighborhood residents Katelynn Voisey and Joe Lawson recorded the video footage of the fire truck spinning out on the icy road, which has gone viral. The video is, indeed, dramatic, but the incident is even more dramatic when you consider the full context, which Voisey explained to KSDK:
“At 7, we woke up to a loud crash. The blue Chevy Cruze crashed into my car and then was lodged on top of the fire hydrant and electrical box. We advised her to get out of her vehicle and come over to safety on the porch,” Voisey said.
After making it back to their porch, they called 911 and while they were waiting, a pickup truck also slid down the hill immediately followed by the Rock Community fire truck, which met the same fate as the car they were called to help.
“We were immediately running over to check on them. If it wasn’t for the blue car already being lodged in front of the tree and on the fire hydrant, I do think that the fire truck would have flipped once it hit the tree. In all honesty, it kind of turned out OK. He was a great driver,” Voisey added.
News reports cite Chief Wingbermuehle, who says the fire engine and Chevy Cruze sustained only “minor damage.” The department also adds there had been no injuries in the initial crash that morning, nor were there any injuries as a result of the spinning fire truck. And, luckily, no structural damage to any homes. The fire engine made it out with minmial damage to its bumper, but the state of the blue Chevy Cruze is unclear.
