The fire truck, with emergency lights flashing, was stopped at the scene of a car fire on the highway when the bus hit it just north of Hillsboro on I-35.  

The bus driver and several others aboard were slightly injured. They were treated at a local hospital and later released. The driver of the bus said he swerved to miss an 18-wheeler whose driver braked abruptly, Hill County Emergency Management Coordinator Tom Hemrick said.

 

A firefighter who was rolling up hose at the rear of the fire truck escaped injury, but the impact of the collision knocked the bus 200 feet.

The crash happened Wednesday morning in the westbound lanes of I-20 near Two Notch Road, according to the Columbia Fire Department.  

Four fire fighters on a ladder truck were arriving at a crash in the left lane of I-20, according to Mike DeSumma, Columbia Fire Department spokesman. The ladder truck driver was slowing down and maneuvering the truck to protect the crash scene when a tractor-trailer came through and clipped the side of the fire truck.