Bad Day in Ocala
Unless they have discovered a new way of draughting, this picture from Ocala.com is probably not what a fire chief wants to see in the paper. Here are excerpts from the Star-Banner article:
What’s the difference between the ducks in Lake Tuscawilla and the firetrucks in Ocala Fire Rescue Station One across the street?
The ducks can swim.
One of Station One’s trucks proved it couldn’t Monday afternoon, rolling out of the station, down a ramp and across Northeast Third Street, jumping the curb to plunge cab-first into the lake and join the ducks.
No one was injured in the 5:45 p.m. accident. Firefighter Dan Pinkston was running by the lake when he saw the unoccupied truck start to roll out.
“I [saw] the engine starting to creep out,” he said. “I went to run up and try to jump in it, then I saw it got up too much speed.”
With a car approaching the station, Pinkston could do nothing more than direct traffic.
“I just held the car up and watched it happen. There was nothing I could do,” he said. “There was so much speed in there . . . it was a lost cause.”
The truck, an E-One Typhoon model 1,000-gallon pumper, rolled into the lake until water nearly covered the driver’s compartment. It sat on the bank diagonally, with water almost to the pump control panel on the side. Shortly after it went into the water, the electrical circuit for the warning lights shorted out, turning the lights on, making it appear the truck was on a rescue call.
