DETROIT – Four firefighters were taken to the hospital and two residents were injured when an SUV collided with a fire truck that was heading to a house fire in Detroit, officials said.
Detroit firefighters were called Wednesday morning (June 8) to a house fire, according to Public Information Officer James C. Harris, the fire department’s chief of community relations.
Two trucks responded to the fire, and they had lights and sirens activated, Harris said. When the front truck got to the corner of Dickerson Avenue and Houston-Whittier Street, it was involved in a collision with an SUV.
“One truck comes out, the other truck comes out,” Harris said. “When the other truck comes out, next thing they know, they see a little smoke and dust, so they stop. It’s always lives first. We always put the citizens first and the firefighters first, so they stopped to make sure everybody was OK, and the rest of our crews responded to the fire.”
Harris said it’s unclear what caused the crash, but two “civilians” were injured. They had to be pried from the SUV with the jaws of life, he said.
Harris said four firefighters were taken to a nearby hospital -- two with known injuries and two as a precaution.
The significance of the injuries is still unclear. At the time of the briefing, everyone was still on the way to the hospital.
“We want the city of Detroit and everyone to pray for them,” Harris said. “Hopefully they’re pretty good. It could have been a lot worse, looking at the damage to the car and the truck.”
Harris said there’s severe damage to the SUV. The fire truck also sustained some damage, but Harris said it’s hopefully fixable.
You can see video of the damage to the fire truck below.
“We just want the citizens to know that we’re always there for them, always in rescue mode, always (working) to save them, but we want them to know when they see that fire truck, pull over to the right,” Harris said. “Please, pull over to the right. That fire truck weighs a lot, and it can be critical if it’s involved in an accident.”
He said these comments aren’t an indication that the SUV driver was at fault, but simply a public service announcement for the future.
The ages of the two injured residents have not been confirmed. Harris provided some information about the firefighters involved.
“These are veteran firefighters,” Harris said. “These are great firefighters, and they’ve been on the job at least, I’d say, over 15 years.”
Other firefighters responded to the original house fire and extinguished the flames, Harris said. Nobody was injured at that scene, he said.
Officials from the Detroit Fire Department, Detroit Police Department, and Detroit EMS responded to the scene.
Detroit police are handling the crash investigation.