JOY LEIKER
Story Courtesy of Hays Daily News
RUSSELL, Kansas -- The brakes on a 500-gallon, 22-year-old fire truck failed Thursday morning moments before it crashed into a sports utility vehicle and the 61-year-old Russell Fire Chief, who was directing traffic around the scene of an injury accident that had occurred only minutes earlier.
Earl Hemphill, a 20-year veteran of the Russell Fire Department, was killed after he was hit by the fire truck. He was pronounced dead at Russell Regional Hospital.
Full honorary services for Hemphill are scheduled for 2 p.m. Monday at the Russell High School gymnasium. Firemen and fire officials from around the state are expected to attend.
In the report released Friday by the Kansas Highway Patrol, the first accident, a rollover, occurred at 10:15 a.m. Dale G. Keller, 41, Ellis, was southbound on U.S. Highway 281 when he passed a suburban towing a trailer, driven by Lewis A. Busby, 57, Greensburg, La.
As Keller passed the vehicle, Busby lost control and rolled. The suburban and trailer both ended up flipped on their tops in the roadway, less than 8 miles north of Russell.
Hemphill was among the first of the emergency personnel on the scene. He stood alongside the flipped vehicles and directed traffic around the scene on a single lane of traffic, even as more emergency vehicles arrived.
Paradise Fire Chief Justin A. Frye, 25, was on his way to that first accident scene when the brakes failed on the company's fire truck. It's custom for one of the rural fire trucks to respond to injury accidents, and this accident occurred inside the boundaries of the Russell County Fire District No. 3.
Frye, who was admitted to Russell Regional Hospital Thursday, was released on Friday.
The driver of the sports utility vehicle, Rachelle L. Standley, 28, the Russell County deputy appraiser, was transported first to the Russell hospital. She was transferred to Wesley Medical Center on Thursday, and was released from the Wichita hospital on Friday.
Funeral Arrangements:
Services will be at 2 p.m. Monday at the Russell High School (Amos Morris) Gymnasium, Russell, with the Rev. Dale Lane officiating; burial in the Russell City Cemetery.
Visitation will be from noon to 9 p.m. today and from 9 a.m. to noon Monday at Pohlman's Mortuary, Russell.
Memorials are suggested to the Bible Baptist Church, Russell, or the Russell Fireman's Relief Association.
Related:
Truck's Brakes Failed in Accident that Killed Fire Chief