Sometimes, when a tree falls in the woods, someone is there to see it. In the case of a Richmond volunteer firefighter, he was simply in the wrong place at the wrong time.
The driver of that vehicle, a large truck hauling a roll-off dumpster, did not have time to avoid what was described by Richmond Police Chief Dave Teske as “half of the tree” and attempted to stop on the roadway.
The ladder truck slammed into the back of the truck hauling the dumpster, causing major damage, crushing the cab and trapping the firefighter inside. Michigan State Police and the Richmond Police Department used the “jaws of life” to extricate the firefighter from the vehicle.
The police chief said the volunteer firefighter was not responding to a fire run, but was instead performing a routine truck check to maintain his driving skills.