(8/31/06 – KTRK/HOUSTON) – A Houston fire truck on its way to a house fire ended up getting into a wreck near downtown. The accident happened on Sampson off the Gulf Freeway. Fire officials say the driver was apparently trying to determine whether to get on the freeway or stay on the feeder road to get the fire. The driver stayed on the feeder road, but overcorrected and hit the median, flipping the truck to its side.
The pumper truck was carrying about 500 gallons of water. The truck is worth about $450,000, but has no insurance on it so the city will take a loss on the damages.
“It doesn’t look good,” said HFD District Chief Tommy Dowdy. “We’ll know more when we get it back to the shop and take a look at it. It doesn’t look good.”
“I’m just happy that the firemen were OK,” said eyewitness James Hayes. “I’m just standing around to see the damage that was done to the fire truck.”
The four firefighters on board the engine truck were taken to nearby hospitals with non-life threatening injuries.