Car Crashes into Fla. Firehouse, Driver Runs Away

Dec. 24, 2013

Poilce were involved with a chase when the vehicle slammed into the Oviedo station.

Source Orlando Sentinel

Dec. 24--Two occupants of a vehicle that crashed into an Oviedo firestation early Tuesday remain on the loose.

Oviedo Police found small amounts of crack cocaine and prescription pills inside the rental BMW SUV that plowed into the station on Central Avenue after 3:30 a.m.

Firefighters were not hurt, according to Oviedo Police spokesman Sgt. Jermaine Walton.

Police collected samples of blood from the BMW's airbags, which deployed upon impact.

The samples will be submitted to Florida Department of Law Enforcement as investigators look for clues about the driver and passenger.

Officers first spotted the BMW at a closed business shortly before 3:30 a.m., police reported.

As they tried to approach the rental SUV, the driver "took off speeding on State Road 434 and Mitchell Hammock Road, heading northbound," Walton said.

Police chased the BMW.

About a minute later, the rental smashed through the front, bay doors of the Oviedo fire station at 42 S. Central Ave., police said.

It also hit one of the fire trucks and a battalion chief car inside the station, Walton added.

"Fire services shouldn't be affected at all," Walton said.

An Oviedo Police investigation is ongoing.

The crash caused an estimated $20,000 in damage, Oviedo Fire Chief Lars White told reporters.

Oviedo plans to start construction next year on a new "super firestation" that will house two firefighting companies on State Road 434 next to Boston Hill Park.

The Central Avenue station is expected to be demolished as part of that project.

Oviedo found itself looking to relocate the downtown station after the Florida Department of Transportation announced plans in 2012 to rebuild and widen the five-way intersection of S.R. 434 and County Road 426 and 419.

White has said the new station will decrease response times.

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