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Earlier coverage from Firegeezer.com
FirefighterCloseCalls.com on stopping at red lights
Above is a must see video from this morning’s wreck of Medic 50 in Philadelphia this morning. It shows the collision occurring and the immediate aftermath.
The ambulance, Medic Unit 50, was northbound on Broad Street with its lights and sirens on when it was hit by a silver Chrysler sedan that was westbound on Callowhill Street about 7 a.m.
The ambulance flipped onto the driver’s side of the vehicle and the sedan, its front end smashed in, ended up facing toward the northeast corner of Broad and Callowhill.
Two Philadelphia Fire Department paramedics were taken to Hahnemann University Hospital for treatment. The paramedics’ injuries did not initially appear to be serious.
There were no patients inside the ambulance at the time of the accident.
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Also on STATter911 …
- DC Chief Kenneth Ellerbe defends plan to remove all ALS transport units from overnight hours. Says citizens better served moving medics to peak demand hours. – November 13, 2012
- DC ambulance struck near hospital. Car overturns, catches fire killing driver. – January 25, 2013
- Two from FireTruckBlog.com: Man throws concrete through window of responding rig & vintage film. – February 5, 2012
- UPDATE – Audio from Philadelphia house fire with rescues. Three firefighters & four civilians hurt. Lt. critical but stable. – February 5, 2012
Comments
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Looks like he was the guy in the car was determined to make the light…But really, arnt drivers supposed to at the least slow down at the light to see about on coming traffic?
Given how quickly after the collision the lights changed, the driver of the silver car had to have been rushing a late yellow or even a red. Nonetheless, the ambo crew still had a red and there is no sign they even slowed down to look for oncoming traffic.
I hope no one was injured bad. It appeared Philly PD and civilians were helping getting the guys out of the rig. This is how it should be, PD and Fire looking out for one another.
I love seeing John Q. Public lending a hand! Lets us know there are still people that give a crap.
Looks like the EMS truck was at Fault. They clearly had the red light, no way the driver could have known the red light was close to changing to green. Hope the department man’s up and fixes the other citizen’s car, and pay for their medical expenses. No excuse really for his action.
Since we can’t see the light from the direction of the medics, how about we reserve judgment on that for right now, if that’s OK with everyone. I’m sure no one else out there has traffic lights that go green in one direction before they switch for opposing traffic (turning signals and lanes, anyone … Bueller, Bueller…) Watch the video again, it seems like the light colored car following the bonebox is pretty heading through the intersection too until the rig flips in front of them. That car doesn’t look like it’s stopping for the light.
While it’s true that this view does not show the signal for the ambulance and that there are some intersections in which only 1 direction has green and the other 3 red, I know of no intersection in which intersecting directions both have a green light.
While it’s also true that in most cases reserving judgement is wise, if you look at the video again the car appears to be entering the intersection at full speed. The light in the direction of the camera shot changes at least 3 seconds after the collision. Unless the occupants of the car just robbed a bank or are fleeing a drive-by, the likelihood that their light was red is pretty slim (it was probably at the end of the yellow when they entered the intersection). So the likelihood that the ambulance had the green would be at least equally slim.
duh… “planning” on heading through the intersection.
need more coffee
Nice to see a number of civilans come to the medics aid, glad to see there are still good people in this world.
I hate to say it… Look at the lights, they were red for the ambo! At least in the opposing lanes they were red. Come on peeps, take the extra time to make sure its clear.
Glad nobody was seriously hurt
Philly is the best, just ask them LOL
yikes. Lucky they were all ok. I hope they didn’t just blow that light. They’re not even pausing…gotta agree with CHAOS-it does look like the car behind the rig is going to drive through intersection as well before the wreck. I don’t know. Looks bad though.
Curious, What kind of incident was that crew responding to?
Watching the Video It looks like some type of Traffic signal preemption system may have been in use. Will be interesting to know what happened.
Regardless of the status of the lights, it’s another good example of how the laws of physics always beats out the laws of man.
JUST HAPPENED IN INDIANAPOLIS INDIANA AND BOTH EMTS DIED OF BRAIN INJURY. SO SAD 2/16/13