Firefighter Badly Injured After Falling From Truck

[Guest]

(CBS) NEW YORK Emergency crews worked feverishly on a firefighter from Ladder 13 who lay helpless on 85th Street and Lexington Ave after falling from his truck just yards away from their firehouse on Friday night.

The ladder company was responding to a fire at a bagel shop on 86th and York. The truck was turning off 85th onto Lexington when witnesses say the firefighter fell from the rear right side of the truck's cabin onto the street.

"Everybody got out of the truck," witness Jose Aguirre said. "Some of them, they had shorts on and short-sleeve shirts, and they just went to help him out."

As soon as they made the turn, the firefighter just fell off the truck. His door may have been open and he couldn't hold on to anything.

The firefighter, who witnesses say appeared unconscious, was rushed to the Cornell Trauma Center, where he is listed in critical condition. However, FDNY officials did say the firefighter opened his eyes at the hospital.

Meanwhile, investigators inspected the fire truck’s door to figure out what went wrong.

[Guest]

Best wishes for a full and speedy recovery to FF Moore and support to members of Engine 22/Ladder 13

December 3, 2005

Firefighter Injured in Accident

By JENNIFER 8. LEE and JANON FISHER

NYTimes

A 26-year-old firefighter suffered serious head injuries last night after he fell out of a fire truck as it made a turn on its way to a fire on the Upper East Side shortly before 9 p.m., the police said.

The police said that a faulty latch caused the door to swing open while the firefighter was standing inside putting on his jacket.

The firefighter, whom a Fire Department official identified as Joseph Moore, of Belle Harbor, Queens, was taken to NewYork-Presbyterian/Weill Cornell hospital, where he was in critical but stable condition last night, the police said. A fire department spokesman said that he had suffered a skull fracture and was breathing on his own but could not talk.

The truck was an older model, from 1988, the police said. A fire department spokesman said the truck was a spare one that had replaced a newer truck that was under repair.

"The truck made a sharp turn and all of a sudden I saw a firefighter on the floor," said Jose Aguirre, 31, an employee at Chirping Chicken. Mr. Aguirre said the firefighter fell in the crosswalk on Lexington Avenue, near 85th Street. "He wasn't moving at all."

Firefighter Moore is a member of Engine 22, Ladder 13, at 159 East 85th Street. The firehouse lost six firefighters on Sept. 11, 2001, according to officials.

The fire, at Bagel Bob's at 86th Street and York Avenue, was extinguished at 9:19 p.m..