On August 11, 2007, a 43-year-old male volunteer fire fighter died while he was responding to an automatic alarm driving an engine. Less than half-mile from the station, the victim rounded a curve and went off the right side of the road onto the shoulder, swerving to miss a vehicle that crossed over the centerline from the opposite direction. The victim steered the engine back onto the road and crossed the centerline. While attempting to control the engine the victim overcorrected and again ran off the right side of the road. The engine collided with a fenced embankment, skidded side ways, struck a tree, and overturned. The engine came to rest lying on the drivers side of the road. Fire fighters responding in a ladder truck from the victim's department found the victim entrapped in the cab of the engine, within a minute of the incident. The victim was found to be unresponsive and was pronounced dead at the scene by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) personnel.
Fatality Assessment and Control Evaluation (FACE) Report: Volunteer Fire Fighter Responding to an Automatic Alarm Dies When Engine Collides with an Embankment and Tree then Overturns in North Carolina
2009
15 pages
Report
No indication
English
Environmental Health & Safety , Public Health & Industrial Medicine , Transportation Safety , Police, Fire, & Emergency Services , Emergency Services & Planning , Fire fighters , Accident investigations , Occupational safety and health , Motor vehicles , Fatalities , Safety practices , Safety belts , Training , Experience , Fire department , Equipment , Contributing factors , Recommendations , Fire fighting vehicles , Volunteers , North Carolina , Embankments , Trees , Automatic alarms , Emergency vehicles