We just received some additional facts regarding the apparatus crash that occurred in Illinois yesterday. Both Otto Township Firefighters are improving and BOTH WERE wearing seat belts. They did sustain serious injuries when their tanker crashed and overturned while responding on a fire call.
The driver of the tanker, Captain James Turner, 67, was taken to Riverside Medical Center in Kankakee in serious condition. Captain Turner will remain in ICU for 4-5 days as they removed his spleen, has 11 fracture ribs, pnemo-thorax and will likely be on a ventilator for next couple of days. The second firefighter, David Tiburtini, 21, who was partially ejected (more details below), was taken in serious condition to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn and is improving as he has been taken off the vent and is speaking. FF Tiburtini was belted in, however the violent energy of the crash partially forced him out of the right side as the tanker rolled.
Their tanker collided with a car whose driver who has been treated and released and was ticketed for not having a valid driver’s license and not having insurance. The crew was responding on a fire call, traveling southbound on U.S. Route 45/52 when the rig collided with the civilians vehicle that was making a left turn, just after 1400 hours. Both vehicles left the road after the crash and the fire apparatus overturned. The apparatus had just passed a southbound truck and was attempting to pass the civilians’ vehicle when the car turned left, directly into the path of the responding apparatus.
