On Thursday, November 8, 2012, two separate fire departments responded to a 911 call that reported of smoke in the borough of Brooklyn. FDNY trucks, Engine 257 and Ladder 170 dispatched fire trucks in order to respond to the 911 call.
Both trucks were on their way to the location in question, when the two fire trucks collided with each other in Canarsie, Brooklyn, at about 7:45 a.m. The accident happened at Avenue J and East 103rd Street in Canarsie after they individually drove through a four-way stop. “One truck was headed west on Avenue J, while the other rushed south on 103rd Street.”
A yellow cab was parked on 103rd Street. After the trucks collided, they hit the rear driver’s side of the cab, damaging the yellow cab, and then plowed into a brick wall of a house.
65-year-old Cecil Lowe lived on the second floor of the house that was damaged. She heard the tires screech, she looked through her window and saw the trucks drive towards the house.
A driver of one of the trucks was found unconscious inside the truck and was immovable. Individuals who arrived on the scene used “the Jaws of Life to take him out.”
75-year-old Egbert Palmer, a local resident said the scene looked like a disaster zone.
Eleven firemen were rushed to Kings County Hospital. Four were in serious but stable condition. The other seven sustained minor injuries, according to the FDNY.
The location that the trucks were responding to was only a couple of miles away from the collision, according to FDNY spokesman Frank Dwyer. The 911 call, however, later turned out to be a false alarm, Dwyer said.
