113025 HFD FIRE TRUCK HIT BY 18 WHEELER

About 1 am Sunday morning, during heavy rains, a bobtail 18-wheeler spun out and hit the concrete wall just over Kingwood Drive, just inside Montgomery County but in the City of Houston.  Houston Fire was dispatched to the scene. Houston Police had several lanes blocked and had called a rotation wrecker to the scene. A short time later, another heavy-duty wrecker arrived on the scene; however, that wrecker driver was told by Houston Police that they were going to wait on the originally dispatched rotation wrecker. About an hour later, that rotation wrecker arrived on the scene to load the bobtail truck. Houston Fire Engine 104 from Kingwood was blocking several lanes of the freeway. Moments later, an 18-wheeler, traveling at highway speed, struck Engine 104 at the pump panel on the driver's side. Four firefighters were in the truck. The firefighter on the driver's side back seat saw it coming and unstrapped his seatbelt, and tried to get to the passenger side as they were struck. That firefighter suffered critical injuries, including possibly a broken neck and hip, along with internal injuries. The firefighter on the rear passenger side suffered critical internal injuries. The firefighter in the driver's seat suffered serious injuries. The Captain in the front passenger seat suffered minor injuries, but she was also transported to the hospital. The 18-wheeler driver, who told police he did not see the fire truck, which had all its emergency lights on, was also transported to the hospital. Apple Towing, which is contracted to the City of Houston, arrived to remove the firetruck. However, due to the extensive damage and knowing it was going to take many hours to load on a trailer, a decision was made to move it gently off the freeway and reopen the already backed-up freeway. With a Houston Police escort, one wrecker hooked to the front of the engine, the other to the rear. Cradling the fire truck between the two, they moved the engine slowly down the freeway to a truck stop on Rankin Road, which had a large enough parking lot to accommodate the rig and work needing to be done to prepare it to load on a trailer.