4 Toledo,OH FFs Hurt in Fire Truck Crash

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Toledo Firefighters Hurt in Fire Truck Crash on Way to Fire

Mar 11, 2005, 12:01 AM 

(Toledo, OH) --- Four Toledo firefighters have been hurt when their fire truck crashed into a power pole and a tree at the intersection of Bancroft and Ashland Streets in the Old West End.

Toledo Fire Chief Mike Bell tells NBC24 that their injuries do not appear to be life threatening.

According to Bell, the fire truck was responding to a call of an explosion in a West Toledo garage. The crew was following behind another emergency vehicle when two cars pulled in front of their path. 

"That made them have to change course, which they did, in order to do the least harm to people in the streets at the time," said Chief Bell.

According to Bell, the driver of the fire truck swerved to avoid one car, but collided with another vehicle. The crash was felt for a block. 

"I heard an explosion, a big explosion. I turned and saw the fire truck turned over," said Selena Maurer who was close to the crash scene when it happened. 

Chief Bell said the fire truck lost it's air brakes, power steering and slammed into a power pole and a tree. Extra rescue crews were dispatched to help rescue the firefighters.

"This is extremely stressful when four are of your own," said Chief Bell.

Two of the firefighters in the mangled truck got out and started helping in the rescue effort.

The driver of one of those cars has also been taken to St. Vincent  Medical Center with non-life-threatening injuries. 

Traffic at Bancroft and Ashland was blocked as power crews try to repair dangling electric lines.

Bell held a press conference at St. Vincent shortly before 4:30 p.m.

NBC24 has learned the conditions of the four firefighters injured in the crash. Brian Schoen and Thomas Marciniak were treated and released while Michael Durand and Matt Viertlbeck are both listed in fair condition.

From:NBC24

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Article published March 12, 2005

Driver who hit fire truck uninsured

North Toledo woman has 5 traffic cases pending

By CHRISTINA HALL

BLADE STAFF WRITER

A North Toledo woman whose car collided with a city fire engine, injuring herself and four firefighters and totalling the rig, was driving without insurance.

Marcedes McDuffey, 20, of 1025 Homer St. was cited yesterday for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle for the crash Thursday in central Toledo. Although her driver's license is valid, she had four prior suspensions for noncompliance for failing to show proof of insurance to the state, Toledo police Officer Dave McClellan said.

Toledo Municipal Court records show she has five pending 2004 traffic cases, including speeding, driving with a suspended license, use of fictitious license plates, and failure to display license plates.

A police check of her cell phone record showed she was not using the phone when the collision with engine No. 7 occurred at Ashland Avenue and Bancroft Street. Ms. McDuffey, who is unemployed, did use the phone to call 911 after the accident, Officer McClellan said.

City officials are uncertain what they will do about replacing the engine, which slammed into a pole and a tree after the collision. Deputy Fire Chief Bob Metzger said Ms. McDuffey's car hit the engine in just the right spot to cause the accident.

"She hit a vulnerable part of the rig," he said.

Ms. McDuffey, who had the green light westbound on Bancroft, pulled over at Ashland for a westbound heavy rescue squad that was responding to a fire. She didn't see or hear the engine that followed and pulled away from the curb. The wheel of the engine collided with her car, which hooked onto the truck's step-up area and moved with the rig about 15 feet, Officer McClellan said.

Her rear passenger tire then hit a curb, knocking her car off the engine. Her car shot across the eastbound lane and the engine continued westbound without steering or brakes.

"They were like a rocket going down the street," Officer McClellan said. "One of the [firefighters] said the steering wheel was just spinning."

Chief Metzger said authorities speculate that when the collision occurred, the engine's steering linkage separated behind the wheels, impairing the driver's ability to steer the rig. The front axle collapsed, went under the rig, and tore the air line for the air brakes, the chief speculated.

He said the engine had no mechanical problems and was checked recently during regularly scheduled maintenance.

Eleven-year firefighter Lt. Michael Duran and Matt Viertlbeck, a nearly five-year firefighter whose father was battling the blaze to which he was en route when the crash occurred, were released yesterday from St. Vincent Mercy Medical Center. Both declined interviews.

Tom Marciniak, a 30-year veteran and respected rig driver, and Brian Schoen, a 14-year firefighter, were released from the hospital Thursday. Neither they nor Ms. McDuffey, who was treated at Toledo Hospital, could be reached for comment.

Like many of his colleagues, Lt. Mike Maraldo of station No. 5 downtown thought the worst when he arrived at the scene.

"It's usually the other way around, the vehicle's destroyed and the fire truck has minor damage. I don't know that anybody was prepared for what they saw on that scene," he said.

Nonetheless, rookies to veterans did what they were trained to do and did it under the most adverse conditions - multiple victims, downed power lines, puddles of diesel fuel, a smoking engine, and a large crowd.

A firefighter held Mr. Marciniak, who stood on a seat in the rig and held Lieutenant Duran in his arms as other firefighters freed his pinned leg.

"The second rig notoriously is the more dangerous rig to be in. People assume when [the] first truck passes there are no more. [Fire] drivers expect that," he said. "But it's very rare we don't travel in packs."