One of the landscapers thrown into the street by the impact was critically injured after he ended up trapped under a wheel of his truck.
The other suffered head injuries, and a co-worker, the driver, was pinned inside the crushed truck.
Witnesses said the three were eating lunch in the cab of their truck shortly after noon when firefighters from Ladder Co. 167, based in Bayside, came racing westbound along 45th Avenue in Flushing and rear-ended them after crossing Murray Avenue.
"I heard the bang and came out," said Jadranka Aleksa, a local hairstylist. "One guy was on the ground bleeding from his face. They had to pry the door open to get the driver out.
"The truck looked like an accordion. The road was really wet and this corner is slippery when it's rainy."
The firetruck's driver, who suffered a possible broken leg, and the other firemen all passed breathalyzer tests at Booth Memorial Hospital, said cops and fire officials.
Another witness, who identified herself only as Lillian, said she was parked four cars ahead of the landscaping truck when the firetruck rammed it, pushing it into a minivan, which in turn was pushed into a Honda Accord.
The man trapped under the wheel, Efram Baires, 39, of Flushing, was rushed to Booth Memorial, where he was listed in critical condition.
"He can't talk. He mumbles. He's full of blood. He's not good," sobbed his sister, Anna Baires, after visiting him in the emergency room.
Fire officials said the automatically triggered alarm at 41-60 Main St. that brought the ladder company to the area turned out to be "unwarranted."
