Two Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters sustained minor injuries Tuesday afternoon when a driver flipped a fire engine while responding to a structure fire. The incident occurred near the intersection of North McVine Avenue and Foothill Boulevard in Sunland, California, a San Fernando Valley suburb about 20 miles north of Los Angeles. Security camera footage shows a ladder truck passing by first, quickly followed by a fire engine that steers toward the sidewalk before hitting a parked car, rolling onto its side, and sliding into an H&R Block. Fortunately, no civilians were injured in the incident.
In the security camera footage, the fire engine is blocked by a tree until it enters the frame already sliding, but the Los Angeles Police said it was responding to an emergency, and a driver did not yield, causing it to swerve and crash. The video shows the driver attempting to counter-steer to correct the slide before hitting a parked car and ultimately rolling the truck onto its side.
A second angle of the crash is now visible via dashcam footage, showing the fire engine avoiding a slow-moving car before the crash. The fire engine’s speed appears to be a factor in the crash as well, but no details are available as to just how fast the rig was traveling.
The investigation is ongoing
The fire engine that flipped was LAFD E274, a custom 2007 Pierce Arrow XT 6700 with a 1,500-gallon-per-minute pumping capacity, a 500-gallon onboard water tank, and a 30-gallon foam tank. These trucks are typically powered by Cummins, Caterpillar, or Detroit Diesel engines with between 370 and 450 horsepower, according to the Pierce custom chassis brochure, and their dry weight is usually between 38,000 and 45,000 pounds.
For reference, the city of Portland, Maine, recently ordered some new Pierce fire engines at a cost of $710,000 each. The custom units operated by LAFD include “4-wheel disc brakes, a brush box (for wildfire equipment) that is built into the unit (rather than sitting on top, creating more drag and reducing fuel efficiency), and advanced lighting and monitor controls.”
There were only two firefighters on board at the time of the incident, and according to ABC7’s latest coverage, they’ve both been released from the hospital after being treated for their injuries. Engine 274 hit two parked cars, one of which was a third-generation Prius, and a third car that appears to be a black Nissan Altima was pinned beneath the flipped truck.
