Chief Trask said that driver was airlifted to a hospital with serious injuries. His car appears to be totaled and the fire truck may be a total loss as well.“Damage wise, we believe the vehicle is probably a total loss. We have a lot of structural damage to the vehicle as well as the frame,” he said.

Trask said he hopes the firetruck will be covered by insurance. If not, he may have to turn to the city for help. He said it’ll be a while before they have a new truck out on the roads.

The new Quint will replace a 2001 American LaFrance Quint, which had racked up more than 90,000 firefighting miles in its time, O’Donnell noted.

“The American LaFrance has really outlived its usefulness to the community. Trucks are just like us, the older we get the more times we have to go see the doctor; the older a fire truck gets, the more times it has to go see the mechanic,” O’Donnell pointed out. “The manufacturer is now out of business. When the truck breaks down it’s very hard to find parts for it.”

Anchored by a Typhoon Chassis, the Quint sports a Hale 1500 GPM Pump, 78-foot aluminum aerial ladder and can handle 500 gallons of water. The total cost of the project is $837,214, O’Donnell had said in June.

As the truck came to a slow stop, the bell on the front of the fire truck was rung and a dispatcher announced over the radio that the fire truck was in service.

The 2018 Pierce aerial platform fire truck replaced a 1998 Pierce ladder truck.

Hutchinson Fire Department chief Steve Beer told the roughly 75 people in attendance on Thursday that they were taking part in a firefighter tradition, called a wet down, that dates back to the early late 1800s.

The roughly $1.2 million fire truck made its way down the street while others fire trucks parked on the side of the road hosed it down, a christening of the new truck.

Black backed up the truck right outside of the bay, then firefighters told children to go push. The push-in represents how hand-drawn fire carts had to be parked.

After landing in the center bay at the fire station, children were given towels to wipe down the fire truck. Cookies and drinks were served and children were given plastic, red firefighter hats.

The motorist struck the back of Bellbrook Fire Engine 76, which sustained heavy damage and had to be towed from the crash scene almost exactly between Ohio 503 and Arlington Road. 

No firefighters were hurt.

The first crash was reported about 8:45 p.m. and involved a single-vehicle rollover with the vehicle ending up in the median. That driver also was taken to a local hospital with injuries that were not life-threatening.

The rear-end crash was reported at 9:09 p.m. Driver inattention is likely to blame for the second crash, crews said.