"We were having a conversation about it's a matter of time before one of our vehicles or one of our folks are struck on the highway as we're watching all of the traffic fly past us," South Strabane Chief Jordan Cramer told a reporter.
Then the ladder truck shook.
Cramer and the two firefighters with him were not hurt. However, the driver of car that slammed into the truck was injured, KDKA reported.
The crew had remained in the rig because it was too dangerous to get out as traffic whizzed by.
Later, a firefighter was nearly struck by a vehicle as he put flares on the road, the chief said.
"These aren't isolated incidents. This is happening over and over and over again. As a fire chief, it's one of the most terrifying situations that we're in because we can go to fires, we can do all these things, where we're able to control the situation."
Cramer would like to see PennDOT provide heavy vehicles to block the highway.
"Every single one of these firefighters that gets on these apparatus, their family, their kids, all of them rely on the public to take notice of the emergency vehicles, and to slow down, so that they can go home at the end of the day."
