Three people were killed last year when a fire truck and an SUV collided in an intersection.
The civilian vehicle had the green light, while it was red for the Kansas City, MO fire truck, according to published reports.
The rig was responding to an emergency with its lights and siren activated, videos from the scene show.
Since there's an ongoing investigation to determine if charges will be filed, and civil suits are pending, no one would comment about driver training requirements, according to KSHB.
So, reporters went to a department by the same name, but different state and spoke with driving instructors and firefighter recruits.
"It's definitely a lot different than driving a personal vehicle for sure," Kansas City, KS, Recruit Adam Svejda told the reporter.
His training includes going behind the wheel of a fire truck simulator. In one scenario, he responded to a medical emergency during foggy conditions.
“Intersection is the most dangerous part of our job because people will wait and wait, and then they’ll pull out in front of you. We assume we have the right of way; we don’t. Not until it’s safe can we proceed through, because most of our accidents do happen at the intersections," explained Mike Cook, a driving instructor from the Kansas Fire and Rescue Training Institute at the University of Kansas.
“You come up, you stop," he said. "You make sure that all those drivers can see you before you proceed through because if you come up and assume they’re going to stop, that one assumption can cause you to be in an accident."
The simulator gets recruits mentally prepared for what they may face including driving in the rain and the snow. Svejda said he learned that fire trucks don't stop as quickly as his car.
