ABC 7 News from the scene             NBC 4 News Chopper 4 view of the crash  


 
ST. MARY'S TODAY photo by Seif Alramamneh  

WALDORF (Jan. 3, 2008) --- It's a tough start for the new year for local heroes at work with Waldorf Vol. Fire Dept., a day after St. Leonard, flipping their heavy rescue unit over on its side on Rt. 925 (Old Washington Rd.) near Billingsley Road.  One firefighter was flown from the scene as the giant fire apparatus tumbled over on the driver's side and took out some utility poles in the process. 
Yesterday, two St. Leonard volunteers were injured, one slightly and taken to Calvert Memorial and one flown to a trauma unit, when their heavy rescue squad flipped over on the passenger side at Cove Point Road and Rt. 4. 
The half-million dollar trucks are used for specialty rescues and primarily for motor vehicle crashes as they can carry numerous items of extrication gear, have elaborate arrays of lighting and power capabilities.
There have been a number of crashes involving fire and rescue vehicles in the past few days.  See photos now from NBC 4 News chopper
See more at STATter911.com

Cowboys or Firefighters?

Crash reportedly took place as rescue truck responded to a sick call


Left, skid marks show the high speed of the heavy rescue unit. NBC 4     The truck cracked the electric pole in half and a large crane attempts to lift the truck more than 3 hours after it flipped.   ST. MARY'S TODAY photo by Seif Alramamneh
These skid marks are more than 100 feet long, as seen from the NBC 4 helicopter.  These skid marks will be measured as part of the crash investigation and ought to be very interesting to the insurance carrier and also beg the question as to whether the driver of the squad should be charged with negligent driving. 

By Kenneth C. Rossignol
ST. MARY'S TODAY
WALDORF  (Jan. 3, 2008) UPDATE According to the Charles County Sheriff's Dept. , a vehicle pulled out into the path of the squad, causing it to overturn.
"Preliminary investigation has revealed a Waldorf Volunteer Fire Department truck, Rescue Squad 3, was traveling south on Old Washington Road with its lights and siren activated while responding to an emergency call. Another vehicle making a left turn from southbound Old Washington Road pulled into the path of the rescue squad truck. The driver of the fire truck swerved to avoid a collision with the vehicle but the fire truck overturned, skidded along the roadway and struck two electrical poles before coming to a rest. None of the four firefighters in the truck was seriously injured. The driver, Scott Alan Sefton, 43, of Waldorf, and two of the passengers, Benjamin Earl Jenkins, 23 of Baltimore and Michael James Fischer, 36, of Mechanicsville, were transported by ambulance to Civista Medical Center, where they were treated and released. A fourth firefighter, Justin M. Zdobysz, 23, of Waldorf, was flown by a Maryland State Police helicopter to Prince George’s General Hospital, where he was also treated and released. The driver of the vehicle that entered the path of the fire truck was identified. The crash is being investigated by Officer R. E. Glover, Jr., of the Traffic Operations Unit."
Why are firefighters driving the heavy rescue trucks so fast, especially around corners when the top heavy units are most at risk for tipping? 

Why are the volunteer firefighters wrecking $500,000 pieces of equipment in dry, sunny weather? 
Even the inevitable vehicle failing to heed the lights and sirens can be avoided by keeping the speed down.  In this case, the skid marks can show the high speed of this fire department heavy squad.  The call for help that the responding unit is going to won't be helped much when the firefighters are themselves in a wreck. Slowing down is indeed an option.
Why are these vehicles going so fast when they are so hard to stop? Because there is no accountability.  Just three years ago, Bel Alton VFD members took an expensive piece of equipment out for a Sunday afternoon joy ride to attend a birthday party and flipped it.
 The older members of the volunteer fire companies are dying off and getting tired, the younger members are often cowboys and not interested in protecting the investment made by the taxpayers, who pay most of the cost of the equipment purchases.  The sad truth to be faced by the elected officials is that a switch to paid career departments with an accountability based chain of command, vs. popularity contest annual elections of officers, is vital for protecting the public safety and investment in equipment, and to save lives.  Had either St. Leonard or Waldorf's squad trucks landed on a car, all those inside would have likely been killed.  Not only is the problem of poor training a danger to the public, but check out the many forums on The Watch Desk for more from firefighters themselves as they discuss the danger to the firefighters that comes from having unprepared and unqualified officers leading fire attacks, putting firefighters in jeopardy as they clamber across the shoddily constructed new housing and apartment buildings in the area.

 
Charles County Sheriff's officers work at the scene of the Waldorf heavy rescue turnover.
ST. MARY'S TODAY photos by Seif Alramamneh