MARION TOWNSHIP -- A firetruck owned by Bellefonte and used by Logan Fire Company was rear-ended in a wreck on Interstate 80 Wednesday afternoon, and the firefighters inside were taken to the hospital for minor injuries.
Logan Fire Company, along with Undine, Citizen's Hook and Ladder and Pleasant Gap fire companies, responded to a small brush fire along I-80 in Marion Township about 3 p.m., according to Bellefonte Fire Chief Tim Knisely. Fire police shut down the right lane to fight the fire, which began on the shoulder and continued up a small hill.
Firefighters were finishing up about an hour later, and two trucks had already pulled out from the right shoulder onto the roadway, Knisely said.
A Toyota driven by Katja Frye, 36, of Williamsport, was stopped in the closed right lane as 33-year-old Chris Monsell, a firefighter with Logan Fire Company, pulled the truck onto the road, according to police and Knisely.
A tractor-trailer driven by 42-year-old Steven Howard, of Newport, Ark., rear-ended Frye's Toyota and the impact forced both vehicles into the back of the fire truck, troopers said.
Although troopers reported only minor injuries to Frye and none to anyone else, Knisely said Monsell and the three other firefighters were taken to Mount Nittany Medical Center for complaints of back and neck pain. They were treated and released Wednesday, Knisely said.
Knisely said the firetruck sustained moderate damage and will be out of commission for a while.
"Moderate on a firetruck is pretty bad," he said. Even so, the company has other trucks that can be used until the damaged one is repaired.
"There won't be any loss of service," Knisely said. "For larger incidents, we might have to call for other companies' help more quickly."
Knisely had no cost estimate on the damage. There was no information available on whether any of the drivers will be cited in the wreck.
Distributed by the Associated Press
