# Train hits fire engine.



## ShadsTrains (Dec 27, 2007)

Whoops!!

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/us...div?hpt=C2


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## xo18thfa (Jan 2, 2008)

Looks like Vic Smith too me.


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## Randy Stone (Jan 2, 2008)

Just shows that as great as Fire Fighters are, still some don't use common sence.


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## Bill Swindell (Jan 2, 2008)

One has to wonder about the common sense of some people. I also read that a UP employee was killed in his company truck in southern California the other day. They think he may have been driving around the gates.


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## post oak and otter lake (Dec 27, 2007)

A few years ago I was sitting at a light. The Santa Fe tracks were parallel to the cross street which crossed at about 45 degrees. There is enought space between the tracks and the street where 2 cars can sit clear of the tracks. Because of the angle however the vehicle next to me would be sitting on the tracks. I looked to my right to see the idiot who stopped on the tracks. It was a city fire department ambulance. You would think that the paramedics would know better. 

Roger 
Post Oak & Otter Lake GRR 
North Central Texas All Scale Model Railroad Group nctxas.org


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## vsmith (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By xo18thfa on 23 Mar 2010 10:32 AM 
Looks like Vic Smith too me. 

Smile when you say that









...looks like the same crews responsible for this little incident









http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M8JaL8sY4pE


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

From the video: 

"nearly a month later the Detroit fire department is looking into why the fire fighter decided to park on the tracks"... 

UNBELIEVABLE.... 

Because he is a moron, and not fit to work saving lives... 

Also fire the people who need a month to "look into" why this happened. 

Something is being covered up. 

Greg


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## Semper Vaporo (Jan 2, 2008)

Posted By Greg Elmassian on 23 Mar 2010 03:54 PM 
From the video: 

"nearly a month later the Detroit fire department is looking into why the fire fighter decided to park on the tracks"... 

UNBELIEVABLE.... 

Because he is a moron, and not fit to work saving lives... 

Also fire the people who need a month to "look into" why this happened. 

Something is being covered up. 

Greg 

Or... maybe he is just human and made a mistake... and the people looking into it are trying to be kind to a person that has just ruined his chosen career, maybe even a long time career, by making that mistake. Maybe there were circumstances that made parking the truck where it was a risk that was, at the time, worth the chance.


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## Greg Elmassian (Jan 3, 2008)

Parking on a railroad track? There's 4 tracks there. Yes, I'm sure the cover up is trying to let the guy out of it without losing his pension. 

But, you want a fireman who does not have the common sense to not park on tracks? 

You want this guy to be in charge of saving or not saving lives? 

People who see the result of idiots all the time? Obviously he did not learn from others. 

If he was a grocery clerk, no problem, but a person in charge of saving lives? 

No thanks! Also that patrol guy was not the brightest bulb in the bunch. 

People who do this kind of job have to meet a higher standard, and lack of common sense is not a good thing. 

Recognizing a railroad track and a train can be done by a child. 

Regards, Greg


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## San Juan (Jan 3, 2008)

The fire truck getting hit is scary, but what scarred me more was the police car backing away. A fire truck is a lot stronger then a police car. That cop would most likely have been killed if hit.


What bothers me is it seems emergency responders often fail to utilize the emergency call numbers on grade crossing boxes. Are they being educated about these call numbers?


About 12 years ago while I was out running (back when I used to run cross country in high school) there was a minor fender bender near a grade crossing. I wasn't there when the accident happened, but the 2 banged up cars and police were there when I was running by (probably waiting for a tow truck). I noticed there were some debris near the tracks. I went up to one of the police cars and told the officer about the emergency call number on the BNSF box. He didn't know emergency contact numbers were located at grade crossings.


This was 12 years ago when the call numbers were relatively new. So hopefully the police and other emergency responders are being educated about these. And hopefully these numbers are being utilized on every "non-rural" grade crossing out there.


Probably not enough time to call in this Detroit incident. Or maybe there wasn't a grade crossing emergency number. Would be interesting to know if there was a call number at this spot.


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## tacfoley (Jan 3, 2008)

Ain't nuthin noo......... 

Here in UK, back in 1968................. 

' "The basic facts of the tragic accident are not in dispute. At approximately 12.26 p.m. on Saturday the 6th January, 1968, in clear visibility, the 11.30 a.m. Manchester to Euston express, a 12-coach train carrying some 300 passengers and weighing (with its locomotive) 491 tons, running at about 75 miles per hour collided with a heavy road transporter carrying a 120-ton transformer over the automatic crossing. As a result of that collision the train driver, the second man, and a spare driver in the locomotive were killed, and so also were eight passengers in the train. Forty-four passengers and a restaurant car attendant were injured, six of them seriously... 
The immediate cause of the accident is plain. The level crossing was thirty feet long from the nearest half-barrier to the furthest rail and no vehicle of the length of the transporter could traverse it within the 24 seconds' warning period before the arrival of an express train unless it moved at more than six miles per hour: but this transporter was going at only two miles per hour. Neither the crew of the transporter nor the police escort knew the time sequence of operation of automatic crossings, and so did not realise that they would have such short warning of the onset of a train. Consequently, no one paused to consider whether a train might be imminent. Nor had any of them observed the Emergency Notice, or become aware of the provision of a telephone in the half-barrier apparatus, so no one telephoned the signalman to enquire whether it was safe to cross." 

Archivist's Summary The report of the enquiry into the Hixon crash, in which an express train hit a slow-moving road transporter at Hixon level crossing. Because of the nature of the accident, the enquiry was convened to look into the wider safety issues surrounding Automatic Half Barrier (AHB) crossings.' 


tac 
www.ovgrs.org


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## Steve Stockham (Jan 2, 2008)

Note the speed of the train, the fact that there were multiple tracks and the conclusion I come up with is that this line is a mainline with trains routinely traveling at 60 mph+! Setting _anything _on this track was indefensible! I wonder if Detroit is having trouble collecting from it's insurance for the totalling of a $600,000 ladder truck? There's an old saying in the insurance business: "We don't insure stupidity!"


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## aceinspp (Jan 2, 2008)

Apparently these folks think that trains can stop and that they have the right to park any where they want to during an emergency. well guess again folks. Looks like these folks need a little more training and maybe a course in Operation Life Saver. Yes there are phone numbers posted on most all grade crossings and are toll free calls. Also on that same card is a DOT crossing ID Number along with the mile post location. Maybe if these folks had the training and made the call may never had happened. 

Also figure in the damages to the RR equp. Your close to a million probably with both. Think Detroit can afford it.

Later RJD


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