Fire Engine Crash Injures 9, Including 4 Firefighters
Updated 01/31/12 - 10:34 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) - Four firefighters, two other adults and two children were hurt when a Chicago Fire Department fire engine and a 1996 Nissan Maxima collided on in the West Pullman neighborhood.
Around 6:15 p.m., Engine No. 62 was traveling south on Halsted Street in West Pullman, with its lights and sirens activated, as it responded to an emergency call nearby.
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The crew spotted a car stopped at the intersection of Halsted and 128th Place and assumed the car was stopped for them, according to the Fire Department.
But then the car pulled in front of the fire engine and the crew did not have time to stop or avoid a collision and the truck broadsided the Maxima. The engine hit the Maxima square on the passenger side, leaving a woman who occupied the front passenger seat unconscious.
"That was a real nasty accident right there," said Alex Parker, who said he has seen a lot of accidents at 128th Place and Halsted Street.
The passenger side of the car was severely damaged and five of the six people in the car were hospitalized after the wreck. Four firefighters were also hospitalized.
Three children and two adults from the car were taken to local hospitals in serious to critical condition. Four of them went to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, according to fire officials. One went to John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County.
Four firefighters were taken to MetroSouth Medical Center in Blue Island in good condition.
An eight-foot-tall white fence on the northeast corner blocks the view of westbound traffic on 128th Place, where the car was stopped at a stop sign when the fire engine approached.
Parker tried to help the motorist after the crash and said the man told him he heard no siren.
"He said that he saw the lights coming into the intersection, but it was too late," Parker said. "He said he didn't hear no siren."
Parker said the truck gave a blast with its air horn as it collided with the car.
Fire Department spokesman Will Knight said the engine was responding to an emergency call.
Knight said whether the siren was in use will be one of the focuses of the investigation, but declined further comment on the details of the accident citing the possibility of lawsuits.
