Thanks to Dave Statter – www.Statter911.com for sharing this close call with us.
Very interesting July 4th video from Peoria, Illinois. Watch what happens starting at about 3:10. The firefighters and police had responded to a trash bin on fire in the Taft Homes complex. The city’s fireworks display nearby in Downtown had just ended. The firefighters and cops came under attack in what Matt Buedel of pjstar.com termed a ‘near riot’:
At least three shells exploded on the engine, causing burn marks, and one hit a firefighter in the shoulder, charring his heat-resistant gear and temporarily initiating hearing loss. Division Chief Gary Van Voorhis said Tuesday the firefighter declined medical attention at the scene and remained on duty.One of the first responding police officers also suffered some hearing loss and sought treatment at a local hospital later in the night, according to Peoria police Capt. Mike Scally, who also was the event commander for the riverfront fireworks display. The injured officer was not admitted to the hospital and had submitted a report on the incident before ending his shift.
Here’s more:
PEORIA, Ill. (AP) — Peoria police and firefighters trying to get to a trash bin fire at a public housing complex on July Fourth say they were fired upon with commercial-grade fireworks and pelted with bottles.
Firefighters and a couple of police officers initially couldn’t get to the fire Monday night because of what he said were several hundred people watching fireworks being fired in the Taft Homes complex near downtown Peoria, police Officer Doug Burgess told Peoria’s WMBD Radio.
"Immediately once they got in they were fired on with commercial-grade fireworks and bottles were thrown at the police and firefighters," he said.
Officers had to use launchers that fire pepper spray or pepper powder to disperse the crowd, Burgess said.
Several officers and firefighters were burned and one officer was treated at a local hospital, he said. No injuries were reported among the residents of the housing complex and no one was arrested.
"We had such a few number of officers in ratio to the number of people who were there," Burgess said. "We could not risk losing an officer because he was arresting somebody. And, on top of that, the officers were getting fired upon from all sides they couldn’t see where it was coming from."
Commercial-grade fireworks are frequently fired at the housing complex on July Fourth, he said, and police plan to review their security procedures before next summer’s holiday.
