A Taylor Township volunteer firefighter was in good condition Tuesday in Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis where he was taken with injuries after the crash of a fire truck he was driving.
Howard County Sheriff Marty Talbert said Joel Kellar, 21, Kokomo, had a fractured arm, fractured pelvis, fractured toe and cuts.
The crash occurred about 9 a.m. Tuesday as Kellar was northbound on County Road 400 East, near 250 South.
Talbert said the truck's right side tires dropped off the edge of the roadway. Kellar steered back onto the roadway, apparently overcorrected and lost control of the truck.
The fire truck went off the road, struck two trees, and overturned in the front yard of 2270 S. County Road 400 East.
Kellar was thrown from the truck and was trapped underneath.
Rescue units from the Greentown and Sharpsville volunteer fire departments were called to free Kellar.
Kellar and two other units from the Taylor department were responding to 4826 E. 100 South, after Howard County 911 dispatchers received a report of a 10-month-old infant locked inside a bathroom.
The mother could not open the bathroom door. Deputies and firefighters could not find the address. It was then discovered the cellular-phone caller was in Carroll County, east of Flora.
"The call came into the Howard County 911 dispatch center," Talbert said. "Land-based phones will show us the address where the call originates from. This call was received from an old phase 1 cellular telephone.
"The information indicated the call was coming from a cellular tower inside Howard County. Newer model cell phones have global positioning, and it will show us on our mapping system where the caller is located," Talbert said.
The residence was near Flora. The resident did not have a land-based phone and her cell phone service was inactive, allowing her to only dial 911.
The fire truck was destroyed in the crash, which remains under investigation by the sheriff department.
"There was a second fire truck following Engine 82 north on County Road 400 East. The firefighters in the second truck saw the crash. They radioed in for emergency assistance as soon as it happened," said Cpl. Brian Fitzgerald, the lead investigator.
Kellar was alone in Engine 82. He was knocked unconscious in the crash, but regained consciousness by the time he was loaded into the helicopter for evacuation, Fitzgerald said.
Anyone with information about the crash is asked to contact Fitzgerald at the Howard County Sheriff Department at (765) 457-1105.
Tuesday's accident was the second similar crash involving a fire truck.
