HUNTERDON COUNTY, N.J. -- A fire truck illegally passed an ambulance and forced it into a ditch after it swerved to avoid an oncoming car shortly after midnight on Sept. 13, according to Hunterdon County Democrat.
Both emergency vehicles were responding to the same vehicle accident at the time of the incident.
Quakertown Volunteer EMS President David Evans said the fire truck passed the ambulance in a no-passing zone while trying to avoid a head-on collision with an oncoming car.
Evans said the ambulance fortunately drove into the ditch, keeping it from flipping over or hitting a nearby utility pole, he told the newspaper.
The on coming car that almost collided with the fire truck was being driven by a Quakertown volunteer firefighter who was en route to the firehouse to respond to the call.
The two responders in the ambulance suffered minor injuries and were transported to the hospital and later released.
Evans said that with five firefighters in the truck, the two EMS responders and the firefighter in the oncoming car, "There could have been eight fatalities."
"The first job is to protect your self, to be safe," he told the newspaper. "We have to be cautious (because failing to do that) puts the other victim awaiting help at risk."
