Ladder truck hits building in Boston. 1 firefighter is dead. 1 critical. 3 more FFs hurt. 7 civilians injured. Updated info.
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WBZ-TV image.
WBZ-TV special report #2 (update)
Watch videos of Lt. Kevin M. Kelley, who died in the crash of Ladder 26
Arrangements for Lt. Kevin M. Kelley
At 4:30 PM Boston firefighters lined the sidewalk with helmets in hand as a covered body was removed from the crash site.
Boston TV stations and The Boston Globe are reporting one firefighter is dead and another is in critical condition with what have been called “life threatening” injuries. It is reported Ladder 26 had been on a medical call on Parker Hill Avenue and was returning to its quarters two blocks from the crash scene. The accident occurred on the steep incline of Parker Hill Avenue.
Dead is 52-year-old Lt. Kevin M. Kelley, a 30-year veteran of the Boston Fire Department. Kelley had been featured in the show Firehouse USA on Discovery.
Besides the firefighter in critical condition, three others have been hospitalized with lesser injuries. This includes a firefighter who broke his ankle while tending to his injured colleagues.
The name of the dead firefighter is expected to be released after 6:00 PM.
To reach its quarters (see maps below) Ladder 26 would have made a right turn from Parker Hill Avenue at the T-intersection with Huntington Avenue. Instead, it appears the truck went straight across, hit a parked car, crashed into a wall and then the high-rise apartment building.
A number of reporters are quoting an unidentified city official as saying preliminarily it looks like it could be brake failure. Ladder 26 is a 1995 E-One.
At 5:00 PM WHDH-TV reported a radio transmission was received from the ladder truck saying the brakes had failed.
Four children were inside the apartment building, at a computer learning center, and are being checked at a local hospital. Witnesses say the children appeared to have injuries from flying glass. Three adults are also reported to have minor injuries.
WHDH-TV reports Ladder 26 was involved in a relatively minor crash on wet streets on December 10, not too far from today’s crash site.
Earlier from WBZ-TV:
One firefighter was killed and three others were seriously hurt when a fire truck crashed into an apartment building in Boston Friday afternoon, Boston police officials said.
The Ladder 26 truck slammed into Roxbury Tenants of Harvard building at 835 Huntington Ave. near Parker Hill Ave. around 2:30 p.m.
Officials say the firefighter killed in the wreck is still trapped inside the truck. The family of the unidentified firefighter is on the way to the scene.
Boston fire officials say the fire truck was returning from an emergency call on Parker Hill Ave. when it slammed into two other vehicles before going through the brick wall in front of the apartment building. Officials couldn’t say if there were any occupants in the cars involved or if those vehicles were parked at the time.
In addition to the firefighters, several others were hurt in the wreck, though officials couldn’t say exactly how many or the extent of the injuries.
A Boston fire spokesman called the firefighters’ injuries “extremely serious.”
Because the truck crashed into the entrance of the apartment building, no one was injured inside. The building is not being evacuated at this time. Police say hydraulic lifts were brought in to stabilize the structure, which is said to be safe.
The truck appeared to have come down a steep hill before it plowed through the cars, a brick wall and the building.
Click the image for Google Street View of the neighborhood
Google Maps shows it is .8 miles from point A, the crash scene at 835 Huntington Avenue, to point B, Ladder 26’s quarters with Engine 37 at 560 Huntington Avenue. If accounts are correct that Ladder 26 was coming down the steep hill on Parker Hill Avenue, the truck would have made a right turn to reach its quarters. Instead it appears to have gone straight across the T-intersection and hit a wall and then the apartment building. Click the map above.
YouTube video of Ladder 26 leaving quarters. Posted last June.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3WybeqLsyjM&hl=en&fs=1]
A second video of Ladder 26 and Engine 37 responding. Posted last August.
