Thanks to Dave Statter www.statter911.com for his work on this story.
A 20-year-old volunteer firefighter is in stable condition and being evaluated at the trauma unit at Prince George’s Hospital Center after falling out of a responding fire engine this afternoon. Prince George’s County Fire/Rescue Department Battalion Chief Denise Dickens tells STATter911.com the firefighter tumbled from the rig at Addison Road and 60th Avenue around 2:00 PM as Engine 838 from Chapel Oaks VFD responded to a report of a house fire in Temple Hills, Maryland.
Dickens says a reserve PGFD engine was being used at the Chapel Oaks Station. She could not say if the firefighter was wearing a seatbelt or which model engine was in use.
As STATter911.com reported after a similar incident on January 21, 2008, the department has had issues with the door latches on older model Seagrave engines used as department reserve units. In that case a volunteer with Bladensburg VFD fell out of a 1989 PGFD Seagrave on Route 450 at Edmonston Road. It was determined that the firefighter was not wearing a seatbelt and that there had been other incidents where doors have popped open on that model engine.
