Sunday, November 18, 2012
A local firefighter was injured Sunday afternoon, when the tanker
truck he was driving veered off the road and crashed into a wooded area.
Police
and firefighters responded at about 2:30 p.m. near 42 Fife’s Lane off
of Route 236, after receiving a report of a fire truck involved in an
accident.
Stephen St. Hilaire, who lives in the area, said he did not see the
crash but he heard it, and rushed outside to join some neighbors in
assisting the driver. St. Hilaire said the driver was conscious, “but
not really responsive.”
“He was in shock, or something,” he said.
Assistant
Fire Chief Norm Chouinard confirmed a lone South Berwick firefighter
was driving the vehicle to the scene of a chimney fire in Eliot. He said
the 3,000-gallon tanker truck was called off en route and was driven
onto Fife’s Lane to take back roads on its return to the fire station.
“This was not an emergency run. He was just driving back to the station,” he said.
Officials
at the scene declined to immediately identify the firefighter involved.
Chouinard described him as a veteran member of the department.
A South Berwick ambulance transported the firefighter to Wentworth-Douglass Hospital in Dover, N.H.
Chouinard said officials believe the tanker truck was totaled in the crash. He did not know what the truck cost the town.
Chouinard
said it was not immediately known what caused the truck to swerve off
the road and crash into the tree line. The investigation remained
ongoing Sunday night, with National Wrecker Service responding to remove
the truck and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection
investigating the impact of diesel fuel leaking from the vehicle.
“We don’t know what happened,” he said. “It’s going to be a while before we figure out everything.”
