Initial reports from the scene indicated a Monarch Fire Company firetruck and a sedan collided.

The severity of injuries wasn't immediately unknown.

The westbound lanes of Route 422 are closed while crews clear the scene.

A few minutes before the crash occurred, township fire crews were called to a fire at 451 Hill Road where an outbuilding at the residence was reported to be on fire.

Fire Chief Brian Byrd this month told council that crews have been consistently using rigs meant to be in reserve as their front-line equipment when they respond to fires. That means if a back-up engine goes down for any reason, there’s a chance at least one station would be left without a rig.

“I don't think anyone in any neighborhood wants to hear that it was their fire station, so to me it was important to figure out how to get these on order right away,” Councilman Chris Delaney said.

City councilmen believe they’ve found enough money in the 2018 budget to be able to order two fire engines and one ladder truck, vehicles that fire officials said would put them closer to the six engines and two ladder trucks the department needs.

Frenchville Fire Chief Peter Parent described the gift of the fire engine as “unimaginable” and said it was especially beneficial to the local community. He also expressed Riitano’s sentiment that firefighters stick together for the good of others.

“It’s an example of firefighters helping firefighters and how they all come together in a common goal to protect the people and to serve the people; that is what our mission is,” Parent said.   

Guy Paradis assistant fire chief for the Frenchville Fire Department said the new engine is an improvement from the 1966 engine they had been using. The new truck has a pump size of 1,250 gallons per minute, a deck gun mounted on board, and a diesel generator.

“It came fully equipped,” Paradis said.

Andrew Guerrette visited the Bay Shore Fire Department where firefighters there familiarized him with the fire truck, which Frenchville put into service in mid-October.

"This station was built back in 1999," says Rio Rancho Fire Chief Paul Bearce.

Bearce says Station 5 is starting to show its age.

"I don't believe that when they built it, they understood the weight of the current fire trucks," he says. "Over the past probably five or six years this driveway pad has pretty much disintegrated."

Chief Bearce says the old concrete is a safety concern for anyone who walks on it.

"When the truck drives over it, pieces of it move," he says.

"Old" is a theme at three of the six Rio Rancho fire stations, and these cracks are just one example of station improvements Bearce says are needed.