A 92-YR.-OLD MAN IN OSHKOSH, WISCONSIN, died Thursday afternoon when his car collided with a fire truck that was being road-tested by the Oshkosh Corp. factory that built it.

Oshkosh Northwestern photo

The Oshkosh Striker Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting vehicle was occupied by two factory employees and was carrying 1,500 gallons of water when the man drove his car through a stop sign into the path of the firetruck.

The truck hit the passenger side of the car and pushed it into a ditch and the truck ended up on its side in the ditch.  Neither the truck’s driver nor the passenger were injured, but the unidentified man was pronounced dead on the scene.

Oshkosh Corp. Director of Communications John Daggett said the company uses a 15-mile route south of Oshkosh to test its vehicles.  “They’ve been doing these types of tests for over 30 years now and we have never had an incident such as this.”

The Appleton Post Crescent is carrying the STORY.
The Oshkosh Northwestern has a photo gallery and a video HERE.

DETROIT FIRE DEPARTMENT RESCUE SQUAD 5 rolled over onto its roof this morning while responding to a reported house fire.

Free Press/McGraw photo

The four firefighters on board were not seriously injured, but one of them may have suffered a broken arm.

Witnesses say that the truck was making a turn from McNichols onto Woodward when it flipped.  Early reports indicate that no other vehicles were involved.

The Detroit Free Press has the early STORY.
Firegeezer will update as more information comes available.

Free Press/McGraw photo

CANADIAN RADIO STATION CJAD is reporting that a drunk stole a fire engine in Prevost, Quebec last evening:

Local police spotted the fire truck around 8:30 last night, weaving along the street for no apparent reason.  Both the truck’s lights and sirens were on.

Police were able to pull the truck over but the driver made a run for it.  He was quickly caught.

He is being held on a number of charges this morning.

Updated, scroll down.  

CHARLOTTE (NORTH CAROLINA) ENGINE 12 COLLIDED with a private automobile at 10:45 this morning.

Charlotte Observer / Todd Sumlin photo

The engine was responding to vehicle accident on I-77 when it collided with an SUV at an intersection.  The Charlotte Observer is reporting that the engine was traveling northbound on the city street and appeared to have crossed over into the southbound lanes as it approached the intersection where it met the SUV head-on.  This account has not been verified.  A television report by WSOC shows that the engine was on the southbound lanes with a landscaped median separating the traffic lanes.

The TV report says that the SUV driver was on the cross street and made a right turn into the path of the fire engine.  If you watch the video you will see that the collision point was a good 50 ft. or more short of the intersection.  We’ll have to wait for the police report before we’ll know what all the circumstances were.

Watch WSOC video report HERE.

The driver of the SUV was transported to the hospital with serious, but not life-threatening, injuries.  The four firefighters were checked at the hospital and all were released.

Read the Charlotte Observer STORY.

THIS VIDEO WAS POSTED OVER THE WEEKEND but doesn’t say where or when it was taken.  The accents of the people heard on the video have a British tinge to them and the fire engine has that kind of appearance, also.  But the vegetation in the neighborhood indicates a more tropical climate.

Anyway, watch the “driver with the big eye” take his engine up on two wheels and narrowly miss another pumper and some firefighters.

Update and disclaimer:  We have learned that this video was taken a long time ago and is one of those that floats around the web endlessly.  But it’s still fun to look at, isn’t it?

A FIRE ENGINE FROM THE MANITOU VOL. FIRE DEPT. near Madisonville, Kentucky was involved in a fatal crash Saturday night.

The pumper with two members on board was responding to a fatal crash when it drifted onto the shoulder of the highway.  When the driver apparently overcorrected he lost control of the vehicle and crashed head-on with an oncoming pickup truck driven by a 27-yr.-old woman from Madisonville.

The fire engine then ran off the road and rolled over landing on its top in a creek.  The driver of the pickup was killed in the collision although she was wearing a seatbelt.

Skid marks show the path of the
fire engine that rolled into the creek.

Both men in the fire engine were belted also but the passenger had to be flown to Louisville for treatment where he is in stable condition.  The driver was treated and released.

WFIE Ch. 14 has the STORY.

 Updated, scroll down:

CONNECTICUT STATE POLICE WERE CALLED EARLY WEDNESDAY MORNING for a fire engine theft from the Jewitt City Volunteer Fire Dept.

The theft occurred shortly after midnight, but while the police were searching the neighborhoods in the area they found the engine abandoned behind a business in nearby Canterbury.  It was undamaged.

They continued searching the area and came across a suspicious individual walking nearby.  After talking to him, he admitted to breaking into the fire station and stealing the tanker truck and taking it for a “joy ride,” state police said.

Update: 9:30 pm
It was a volunteer FF that spotted the fire engine going up the highway with lights and siren going and he called the fire chief to confirm that there wasn’t a fire response at the time. Then it was reported to PD.
Police say that the thief is a teenager who is a former fire cadet. He is known to have a mental problem.

WFSB Ch. 3, Hartford has filed this video report:

THE NEW HARTFORD, NEW YORK, VOL. FIRE DEPARTMENT recently held their 5th Annual Fire Truck Spectacular at a local shopping center parking lot.

The public relations event is designed to both acquaint the citizens with their local fire departments and to serve as a recruiting tool for new members.

About 30 fire departments were there displaying 50 pieces of apparatus.

It looks like a good idea and appears to be successful.  WKTV, Ch. 2 in Utica gave this video report:

The New Hartford VFD is more than 100 years old and has a good, informative website HERE.  While reading through their History page, Firegeezer got a kick out of this entry from their company minute-book:  September of 1921- The Chief noted complaints of some firemen entertaining girls and playing the piano until 2 or 3 in the morning. Motion carried that the piano was to be played only from 7:30 to 11:30 PM.

ON I-93 IN NEW HAMPSHIRE WEDNESDAY, A TILTON-NORTHFIELD FIRE DEPARTMENT pumper was severely damaged when a car drove right into the back of the engine.

Fosters photo

The department’s first-line engine was responding to a highway medical call and traveling with its lights and siren activated when the driver slowed down to turn into the emergency vehicle crossover.  At that point, a 2008 Dodge driven by a Kansas City, Missouri man crashed into the rear of the pumper.

Fire Chief Stephen Carrier said (the engine driver)  told him the impact “sounded like an explosion” and gave him a “pretty good jolt” but he did not lose control of the fire truck.  The engine is out of service and Carrier said insurance investigators will determine whether or not it is repairable. He said there is some concern that the frame may be bent.  The E-One pumper was purchased less than two years ago for $310,000.

The car’s driver, who was unhurt, was charged by State Police with negligent driving.

Fosters

The Laconia Citizen has the full STORY.

THE TINY TENNESSEE TOWN OF LUTTRELL lost its second firetruck in eight months from rollover accidents.

Dave Statter has the photos and details from both accidents at STATter911 HERE.

FEDERAL SIGNAL CORP. ANNOUNCED WEDNESDAY EVENING that they have agreed to sell their subsidiary E-One to a buyout group.

Waiting until the stock markets closed, they issued a press release stating that the current management team, including CEO Peter Guile, will join with American Industrial Partners (AIP) to purchase the fire/rescue apparatus maker for $20 million.  AIP is a private-equity firm that makes investments in mid-sized industrial companies.

They expect the sale to be completed and closed within the next 30 days.

Firegeezer notes that the selling price looks like a real bargain.  The current management team  apparently took advantage of Federal Signal’s eagerness to shed the company and took it over for almost nothing.  This is good news for the people of Ocala, Florida where the plant is located.  If the company can salvage their dealership structure and weather the current sales slump, they stand a chance of surviving.

Rick Cundiff at the Ocala Star-Banner has the news and some background on the situation HERE.
You can read the press release issued last night HERE.

AMERICAN LaFRANCE HAS ANNOUNCED THAT they are relocating all of their fire apparatus manufacturing operations out of their Summerville, South Carolina facility. 

Summerville plant

The troubled plant was never able to get production up to speed and led to the vintage manufacturer to file for bankruptcy.  The court approved their reorganization plan on April 30, but they never made public until now their plans to resume full operations.

The Summerville plant is a new, state-of-the-art manufacturing facility that was architecturally designed to look like a firehouse.  ALF says that they will continue to use the South Carolina plant to manufacture heavy-duty trash hauling trucks.

The firetruck business will be consolidated in their two other plants in Hamburg, New York, and Ephrata, Pennsylvania.  The Hamburg and Ephrata facilities have a combined total of 184,000 sq. ft. of space.  The Summerville plant that they are leaving has 440,000 sq. ft. of manufacturing area.

Left: Hamburg plant.  Right: Ephrata plant

There is expected to be more detailed information available tomorrow.  This report was based on information from the Charleston Post & Courier and the American LaFrance website.