On July 12th at 4:18 PM, Reese & Community Volunteer Fire Company was alerted to assist in a 6-08 Box (Pleasant Valley) for wires down and electrical pole fire in the vicinity of Littlestown Pike and Saw Mill Road as a result of a heavy storm cell moving through Carroll County.

Engine 9-1 (with a crew of 4), was traveling northbound on Rt 97 (in the area of Maryland Mallet) when a commercial box truck traveling southbound crossed the double yellow line and struck the engine head on.

The passenger of the box truck needed to be extricated from the vehicle and was transported to an area hospital with non life-threatening injuries. The driver of the box truck was able to exit the vehicle on their own and did not require medical attention.

Thankfully, Engine 9-1 was not traveling at a high rate of speed and the engineer anticipated the crash, warning the crew and preparing the Engine for impact. Reese VFC personnel were fortunate with only one volunteer sustaining minor injures. Engine 9-1 sustained body damage and had to be towed, while the crew was transported via other departmental vehicles back to Reese.

MSP cited the driver of the box truck with traffic citations and continues to investigate the incident.

Thank you to Chief 6, Station 6, Carroll County Department of Fire & EMS, and the Maryland State Police for thier assistance during this incident.

Special thank you to Rockdale Towing for transporting the damaged Engine back to Reese VFC to be unloaded prior to being towed to Virginia for body/cab repairs in the morning.

This marks the second piece of Reese VFC emergency apparatus that has been taken out of service due to damage sustained in a motor vehicle accident in recent weeks. Please drive alert!