Read previous coverage and listen to radio traffic from the incident
There was indication listening to witnesses speak about Saturday’s runaway fire engine incident in Anne Arundel County, Maryland that parents jumped aboard the rig as it rolled away with eight children on board. Now, the Annapolis Capital has confirmed that and other details from the police report. According to the report parents say they steered Engine 201 from the Lake Shore Volunteer Fire Department into a tree to avoid parked cars. Here are excerpts from the article by Lisa Beisel:
The Lake Shore Volunteer Fire Company drove its newest engine to a child’s birthday party Saturday afternoon on Edgewater Road. Eight children were on it when the truck suddenly began to roll down the hill, crossing Edgewater Road before hitting a tree. None of the children were injured.
Tim Hall, the chief of the volunteer company, said yesterday he was at the party and near the truck when it began to move. When he saw what was happening, he took off running to try to stop it.
Picture by Matt Stevens.
“I just did what I thought I had to do,” he said.
But he fell and hurt his knee before reaching the truck.
Hall said he doesn’t know how or why the truck started rolling. The brake was on and a wheel chock – a device placed in front or behind a wheel to keep it from moving – was in place, he said.
One of the parents told police investigating the crash that he heard a “loud clicking noise” right before the truck began rolling.
He and another parent ran after the engine. One of them was able to get into the rear passenger’s-side area of the fire truck and grab the steering wheel, running it into a tree at an adjacent home. County fire officials said Saturday that the engine rolled from 441 Edgewater Road to 445 Edgewater Road.
According to police, volunteer Firefighter Lisa Hall, the chief’s wife, parked the engine and put the brakes in place. She is in training to earn certification to drive the engine on calls. Their son, Timothy Hall Jr., another volunteer, also was there, police said.
He said he followed safety protocol at the scene. The engine was off, the keys weren’t in the ignition, and there were wheel chocks in place to prevent rolling.
Also on STATter911 …
- Dash-cam video: Wheel chocks, bar & quick thinking Santa Fe firefighters stop drunk driver. – May 7, 2011
- Must see video: Sometimes the fire just gets away from you. Australia firefighters have to chase burning box truck. – February 5, 2012
- Overturned fire engine in Huntersville, North Carolina. Cornelius-Lemley Fire & Rescue rig rolls on icy roads. Chief handles the news head-on. – December 17, 2010
- NEW INFO: Resignations from Hamilton, Virginia firefighter charged with DUI & others. Five volunteers said to be on a joyride after night of drinking. 19-year-old on the rig along with a cop. – March 6, 2011
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I see the news did a great job investigating this one. How did the report of a firefighter injured from steering the truck turns into civilian did it? And whats with this comment “the keys weren’t in the ignition”?? KEYS in a fire engine????
Sorry, but I’m going to have to see a police evidence picture of a pair of ground in/smashed wheel chocks back where the engine was parked before I can believe they were set like they are claiming and the engine simply rolled away…
“He said he followed safety protocol at the scene. The engine was off, the keys weren’t in the ignition, and there were wheel chocks in place to prevent rolling.”
I may be out of touch with all available features in different regions of the country, but since when was an “ignition key” an option on a brand new engine?
“The engine was off, the keys weren’t in the ignition, and there were wheel chocks in place to prevent rolling”…
Wow, a firetruck with key ignition! That’s new.
“volunteer Firefighter Lisa Hall, the chief’s wife, parked the engine and put the brakes in place…. Tim Hall, the chief of the volunteer company, said yesterday he was at the party and near the truck when it began to move.”
Sounds like the ‘CHIEF’ is trying to cover not only his A__, but his wifes as well.
“She is in training to earn certification to drive the engine on calls”
Shouldn’t she already be qualified to drive the engine. The only driving she should be doing is a road course, the academy grounds, or a vast parking lot with cones.
Someone correct me if I’m wrong, please.
Is Toyota making firetrucks?
So, who’s birthday party was it? Kinda sounds like a family event for the Hall family…..
“Tim Hall, the chief of the volunteer company, said yesterday he was at the party and near the truck when it began to move. ”
“volunteer Firefighter Lisa Hall, the chief’s wife, parked the engine and put the brakes in place…. Tim Hall, the chief of the volunteer company, said yesterday he was at the party and near the truck when it began to move.”
“Their son, Timothy Hall Jr., another volunteer, also was there, police said.”
What an awesome way to exalipn thisnow I know everything!
Sammy–LOL,
seriously, looks like – 1- no wheel chock or there would be a picture of it, 2- Wife on Driver’s training? umm, yeah, 3- the citizens should be designing their logos for the new fire station and apparatus ownership.
Chief + moron.
I hope the county says I don’t care what reason you have for the rolling…should not have been there anyway…
Hold the Volunteer’s responsible it is about time that they are held accountable.
Another Volunteer event gone bad in AACO
AACO wake up… how much do you spend subsidizing the Volunteer’s??
What is the return??
AACO leadership needs to look at their Volunteer system
Sammy,
Thank you for making me laugh. Will the power steering on a fire engine work and move the wheels if the ignition is off? I’m not an expert on this model, but I’d love to know.
The wheel chock was down ??? I smell BS
The Volunteers rule!!! To think a paid puke never did something like this is crazy. AA Co. is much bettre off without you idiots!! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What do the Volunteers rule?? They don’t even ride…
Oh that is wrong they ride to birthday party’s, ice cream stands ect..
The county spends many $$ maintaining the volunteer apparatus, outfitting them so it can hang on hooks and collect dust.
What do the taxpayers get?? More offers in the mail to give to a fire company that rarely rides and if they do certainly not for fire protection or ems service…
Volunteers have a great role in the fire service..but in AACO they lost their way long ago…currently taxpayers are funding their “clubs” not volunteer fire/ems service
AACO needs to be fiscally prudent and eliminate these fire company’s that cannot staff their equipment, follow rules, and train.
They forgot to throw the anchor.
Ah, is it just me, or does that damage look a little serious for rolling on the flat ground behind it? Is there a hill we are missing?
Maybe it was started and that’s why it rolled over the wheel chocks? That could account for the clacking sound…
Unless, of course, it was already running… OOPS!
Folks, some of the slick-bottomed wheel chocks (you know them, the orange ones) used in many jurisdictions have been found to break traction under certain circumstances. There is actually a recorded incident locally where a wheel chock was in place and the engine still rolled. Granted, the incident was on an icy street in Fairfax, but there was some discussion of the fact that these style chocks could easily break traction on other types of surfaces, such as a wet road, grass, etc. Also, if the chock is not snug against the vehicle tire, trucks have been known to knock them aside or kick them forward like a tin can until they get enough momentum to run them over.
I don’t know all the factors involved in this case, but wanted to throw that in there for the engine drivers out there who think wheel chocks are 100% infallible.
At least it didn’t run into an Annapolis ladder truck while it was rolling away.
this is almost… never mind. Volunteer…career…
Here we go again. Lets not use this news site for our little political agendas. Should we try the facts. I would go with professionalism… level of competence. Failure to follow rules, standards, and “accepted” practices leads to failure. Both sides… oh yeah by the way there are no sides. As far as the taxpayers, property owners, governments and the list goes on… as far as they’re concerned, IT IS THE FIRE SERVICE. We provide a service. Career and volunteers act every day to meet the demands of providing that service. The paycheck or lack of does not provide competence or professionalism.
We do it very safely with limited resources and greater demands every day. The headlines here and on other sites provide the results for a lack of competence and/or professional actions. A failure during training as this event was listed for the driver, requires the “trainer”/Chief to double check the brake, wheel chocks, apparatus placement… In the past couple years there are plenty of failures.
Crash of two apparatus in controlled intersection leading to death of civilian, totaled both pieces … not professional… it was career, crash of two apparatus on video, totaled both… not professional…it was career, apparatus rollover, one ejected death, totaled… not professional… it was career. Intersection crashes totaling apparatus over the past few years for both sides show the lack of competence and professionalism. How about the Captain who had never worn a seatbelt and one month from retirement died when he was ejected out the windshield in a crash… not professional.
We should get to the business of training and enforcing the rules, regulations, and accepted practices we already have in place. We have “redundancy” in our systems and rules for almost everything we do. We have layers. On the surface with the limited information, this appears to be preventable unless there was a catastrophic failure, extraordinary events, or convergence of actions which led to the engine rolling.
I am sure the local government risk office will conduct a thorough investigation for the facts and will set out to make sure it doesn’t happen again. The lesson learned is be professional and do the job with competence.
Hmmm. A brand new piece of apparatus?… the only single way this could have possibly happened(ok…999 times out of 1000 occurences) was that the maxi brakes weren’t applied when parked by the rookie/learner driver, OR one of the children was allowed to sit in the driver’s seat moments earlier and pushed the cool looking bright yellow knob down. 3 things to learn here. 1) don’t let children in the drivers seat during any public event 2) Place your wheel chocks down…especially when you’re parking for a public event and 3) Tell the truth during any subsequent investigation. At least no one was seriously hurt or killed, because Lord knows it had that potential!
Are these guys fools or what? Doesn’t any driver know that when you get out of the seat you’re supposed to put the keys inside the spare tire right next to the mud valve which is normally behind the left-handed smoke shifter!
DC Local Guy,
Care to explain, brother?
Flash protest to much me thinks
this is why no one but the engine operator should be allowed in the drivers seat, and non-firefighters should ALWAYS be supervised when in and around the engine…