Deputy Fire Chief Ed Cann said following proper training procedures “to a T” might very well have saved the lives of firefighters on site of a car fire.
The fire occurred just after midnight on July 5.
A Saturn burst into flames in the area of I-94 near Pelham.
According to Cann, Allen Park responded to the fire with six firefighters, a fire engine and a ladder truck.
Firefighters were in the process of rolling up the fire hose when a man driving an Audi hit a Lincoln headed eastbound on the freeway, spinning it sideways, and then slammed directly into the back of the ladder truck.
Two firefighters were inside at the time.
Cann said the ladder truck, in accordance with safety training procedures, was blocking the fire engine and protecting firefighters as they worked at the scene
“He hit the truck at a high rate of speed,” Cann said. “The Ladder truck was used as a blocking mechanism so you don’t strike firefighters. He would have mowed over our firefighters.”