Emergency officials responded to the scene near FM 249 and Highway 99 just after 5 p.m. The firefighters were on the way to an apartment fire call when the accident happened. The impact caused the truck to overturn after it went into a muddy field beside the feeder road. According to the department, the firetruck was traveling south on the feeder road. The pickup truck was going east on 249. The firetruck had its sirens and emergency lights on, officials said. Two people inside a pickup truck were also injured.

The fire truck was the first fire truck ever purchased by the Rockport Fire Department it has survived two hurricanes one in 1919 and Harvey in 2017.

In fact, the fire truck still runs today in local parades and events.

"It's a wonderful piece of history. As a motorized vehicle, that's really a piece of history that was brought to this town. that was able to be kept.," captain Gillian Cox said. "been able to do that."

The city took a 15-year-old Public Works truck and converted it into a crash attenuator vehicle for the city's Fire Department.

A new attenuator would have cost the city $127,000.  With a $20,000 grant, the city staff was able to rebuild the truck for less than half of that cost, according to the city.

An attenuator is a safety vehicle that blocks motorists from crashes and hazards in the roadway.  

“Our old rescue truck was 22 years old. We started having some minor problems with it, so we decided it was time to look into an upgrade. We found this truck and was able to fund it through our bi-monthly ticket (raffle) that we do and the trade-in on the old rescue.”

The cost of the 2008 International was $99,000. The department put a down payment of $35,000 and received $45,000 for a trade-in of their 1996 Ford L-9000 tri-axle with remaining funds coming from the Ford City Relief Association through a loan.

Assistant Chief Ray Klukan said the truck originally was in service in Myrtle Beach.

“We found this out in Lancaster. A broker bought it, then we saw it on the Internet on his webpage, and felt this is what we wanted. We contacted him and sent pictures out of our old truck to see how much he would give us back. It was a good deal and we went for it. The old truck started nickel-diming us, leaking fluid and things like that.”

Klukan said the new apparatus will be used for vehicle rescue and extrication, in addition to some fire calls.