Eight children escaped injury Saturday afternoon after the fire engine they were playing on rolled down a hill and hit a tree, county firefighters said.
The Lake Shore Volunteer Fire Company had Engine 201 parked on Edgewater Road in Pasadena for a community event. Several children were on the fire engine throughout the day. At one point, the emergency brake was released and the fire engine rolled down the hill, said Battalion Chief Steve Thompson. One firefighter was injured after somehow trying to stop the engine.
"There were several children on the fire engine," Thompson said. "They were looking at it and crawling inside."
County firefighters received a call about an emergency on Edgewater Road shortly after 1 p.m. They arrived at the scene and found that the engine, which had been parked at 441 Edgewater Road, had rolled down a hill and crashed into a tree in front of 445 Edgewater Road.
Police also responded to the scene, along with a commercial vehicle inspection truck. The fire engine remained in the tree at 445 Edgewater Road, where the area had been cordoned off. Several neighbors were milling about and taking pictures.
The injured firefighter was taken to Baltimore Washington Medical Center in Glen Burnie for a checkup. The incident is being investigated, Thompson said.
Jon Williams was coming home when he saw all of the emergency equipment along his street. Several passers-by told him what had happened and that no one was hurt in the accident.
Williams said he was familiar with the fire company doing at least one community event in his neighborhood once a year, and that was during the Fourth of July.
"All I asked was if anybody was hurt," Williams said, adding that was all that mattered. "Everything else can be replaced."
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
