Simone Jasper

The Charlotte Observer

(MCT)

A firefighter was hospitalized after a fire engine tire “exploded,” leading to a crash in Eastern North Carolina, officials said.

The truck was leaving a Christmas parade when it became “uncontrollable” and hit a pipe on Saturday, Dec. 4, according to the Hubert Volunteer Fire Department.

“We had taken the back roads around to avoid the delay of the rest of the parade since we were very near the front,” firefighters wrote in a Facebook post. “So we were trying to return to our district at the time of the crash.”

The fire department said the truck was going about 40 mph when a tire burst, making it hard for the driver to maintain control.

“Our chief fought hard to control the truck, and managed to keep the truck upright as it impacted a driveway pipe and came to a stop,” the Facebook post said.

A firefighter had “major injuries” and was airlifted to a hospital from the crash site on Stella Road, according to a GoFundMe page that says it’s raising money for his recovery. Photos from the scene show a mangled fire truck in a dirt-filled ditch.

The fire department is based in Hubert, a community in Onslow County and roughly 70 miles northeast of Wilmington.

“We ask that you keep us all in your prayers,” officials said in a post that expressed gratitude for agencies that helped after the crash. “We will be back, we will recover, and we will keep going.”

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Over the weekend a Stella (NC) Fire Department apparatus was involved in an accident that sent two firefighters to the hospital, reports riccilawnc.com.

Officials say the crash happened on Stella Road around 12:30 p.m. on Saturday near the White Oak River. A firefighter lost control of the engine he was driving before it left the road, crashed into a ditch, and then struck the culvert of a driveway, the report says.

The apparatus was damaged and one firefighter was trapped in the engine and had to be rescued, while another sustained more severe injuries and was airlifted to Vidant Hospital. Both are expected to be OK, according to the report.

No further details have been released, and the investigation into the crash is ongoing.

City officials will consider at their meeting Tuesday the purchase of a new $1.3 million apparatus for Greeneville (TN) Fire Rescue, reports greenevillesun.com.

The board will debate the purchase of an aerial platform to replace an apparatus that’s 25 years old.

In addition, the board will ponder the purchase of a $12,000 extrication tool for the department’s Engine 2, according to the report.

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By Alan M. Petrillo

E-ONE has delivered its first 100-inch-wide Cyclone chassis and cab HR100 aerial ladder quint on a single rear axle to the Peru (IL) Fire Department. Peru is a town of nine square miles and more than 10,000 population that has 24 paid, full-time, and on-call firefighters and drivers, as well as its chief.

Andy DiVerde, sales representative for Fire Service Inc., who sold the HR100 to Peru, says the fire department was originally looking for a 75-foot aerial quint, but when he brought an HR100 unit over to them and showed its capabilities, especially with additional reach, the department was very interested. “Their main concern was whether the HR100 would fit in their station,” DiVerde points out. “We took it over there and it fit perfectly in their station.”

Joe Hedges, E-ONE’s product manager for chassis and aerials, says that E-ONE introduced the 100-inch-wide Cyclone cab at FDIC International 2021 in Indianapolis, IN. “The HR100 has a 24,000-pound front axle, and a 35,000-pound Meritor rear axle with a Hendrickson RoadMaax® rear suspension, and electronic stability control,” he says. “The quint has a 450-horsepower (hp) Cummins L9 diesel engine, and an Allison 4000 EVS automatic transmission, with seating for four firefighters in the severe duty cab, with three of them in USSC Valor SCBA (self-contained breathing apparatus) seats that have IMMI ReadyReach seat belt extenders.”

Hedges says the quint has a dropped front frame extension with tow eyes, a zinc spray-coated frame and outrigger beams for corrosion resistance, an integral torque box frame, and four under-slung criss-cross outriggers with an 11-foot jack spread. “The quint has a Waterous CSU 1,500-gallons-per-minute (gpm) single-stage pump, a 500-gallon T-shaped water tank with a lower compartment under the tank, and a SideStacker hose bed that holds 800 feet of 5-inch large diameter hose (LDH) with side access doors so firefighters can get into the hose bed from the ground for reloading.”