Fire engine written off in accident

A fire engine belonging to the Bedfordview Fire Station was involved in an accident while responding to an accident.

According to the Emergency Services spokesperson, Mr William Ntladi, the incident happened at about 1pm last Monday.

“The rescue crews responded to a motor vehicle accident on the N3 northbound before Gillooly’s Interchange, involving an articulating truck and a sedan vehicle. On arrival and after securing the scene, there was another articulating truck that broke down next to the initial accident scene. Unfortunately, as the crews were preparing to operate on-scene, a third articulating truck came from behind and crashed into the fire engine as well as two other vehicles involved in the initial accident before coming to a halt,” said Mr Ntladi.

According to on-scene information, the driver said he tried to avoid the broken down truck which was in the slow lane and as a result, he crashed onto the back of the fire engine which was parked completely off the road.

Mr Ntladi said all the road cones placed on the road as a safety precaution to motorists were allegedly driven off the road by the truck before causing the secondary crash.

“Four of the firefighters were injured on-scene as a result of the secondary crash. One sustained serious injuries and was taken to the Rose Acres Hospital in a stable condition. The other three suffered minor injuries and were given psychological and emotional counselling. They were also treated for shock at the scene.

“The driver was also hospitalised after sustaining serious but stable injuries and was transported by road to the Bertha Gxowa Hospital in Germiston,” he said.

Mr Ntladi said the fire engine was written off because of the impact.

“All its rear bunkers, the driver’s side bunkers and the hose deck, including all the rescue equipment, were completely smashed and wrecked in the crash,” he said.