I-49 Crash Damages Fire Truck
Gregg Sweeten found out the hard way that one of Pineville’s fire trucks is a pretty sturdy rig.
When a fire call came in the afternoon of Jan. 4, the Pineville mayor, who also serves as chief of Pineville Rural Fire Department, headed out to help. With Assistant Chief Robert Drake by his side, the two soon saw a van pulled off U.S. Highway 71 on the shoulder. The van’s engine was on fire. The two pulled the fire truck onto the shoulder, in front of the van, and began to try to put out the fire.
A state trooper was located a distance from them. His car’s lights were flashing, warning motorists of an approaching hazard.
As the van’s engine continued to billow smoke, the two continued to hose it down. “It just kept burning,” Sweeten said.
That’s when he heard and sensed something coming.
An oncoming motorist ran her car into the fire truck. Sweeten estimates the car hit the fire truck at approximately 65 mph.
The fire truck will require some work, but won’t have to be replaced. “It held up quite well,” Sweeten said, adding that the fire truck didn’t move.
An ambulance was called for the motorist, who was uninjured.
The incident, however, shook Sweeten.
“It could have been a whole lot worse,” he said. “Take precautions. She could have moved over into the other lane, but didn’t.”
Sweeten worries the outcome could have injured or killed someone.
“People need to move over, slow down,” he said. Watch and pay attention.”