During a response to an EMS call, our apparatus found that the address of the call was blocked by road construction. The officer of the apparatus exited the vehicle to further investigate the address. Once the address was confirmed, the officer directed the rest of the crew that the apparatus would have to be moved to better access the address. Two firefighters exited the apparatus, one with the intention to act as a backer for the apparatus, and one firefighter exited the apparatus with the intention of grabbing the EMS equipment and walking to the address. Once firefighter two exited the apparatus, he noticed that his duty pant leg had rolled up and was caught on his boot. Acting on normal instinct, the firefighter stopped and bent down to fix his pant leg. It was at this time that the apparatus also started to back up. The apparatus knocked firefighter two to the ground and the front officer side wheel ran over the firefighters foot. The firefighters injury was minor and diagnosed as a contusion. Treatment resulted in being placed in a walking boot for 7 days. After 7 days, the firefighter was released back to work with no restrictions.

This incident could have resulted in a much worse outcome. Lessons learned included: A heightened awareness of your situation, members must operate with a “circle of safety” around all apparatus, especially when there is a change that the apparatus could move, communicate with the officer in charge when you want to change the plan of action, engineers must account for all crew members before moving the apparatus, accountability starts with the officer in charge but is everyone’s job.