Tragedy was narrowly avoided on the South Side of Chicago last Friday when a fire truck crashed into a church housing a food pantry. The incident, captured on surveillance video at the intersection of West 103rd Street and South Morgan Street, shows the fire truck veering into the Powerhouse Church even as it tried to evade another vehicle.
Witnesses inside the building were preparing food distributions when the crash occurred. One witness described the harrowing moment to CBS News Chicago, "We was in the food pantry, preparing food for distribution, and all of a sudden we heard this great big crash, boom, bam." Thankfully, no one inside the pantry was injured, but two firefighters were hospitalized. They are expected to make a full recovery.
The condition of the fire truck has come under scrutiny in the aftermath of the accident. The Chicago Firefighter's Union pointed to outdated and potentially dangerous equipment as the root cause of the crash. Union President Pat Cleary claimed the 20-year-old rig should have been replaced five years prior according to standards. "The rig is 20 years old. NFPA 1900 states that after 15 years of service, you should take it out of assigned status. You can put it in spare status for 25 years, so it is a 20-year spare," Cleary said in a statement obtained by WGN News.
Further investigation by the union revealed that Chicago currently operates a 30-year spare, which, as per their statement, should not be in service at all. This is not the first instance of equipment failure; a few months prior, a fire truck lost a tire, causing damage to nearby cars. Cleary urges funding efforts to ensure such incidents do not continue to endanger lives. "They can go downstate to request money or they can go to the federal government to get money. I mean, someone’s not doing their job," he told WGN News, highlighting the need to upgrade the city's firefighting fleet.
The Chicago Fire Department is currently investigating the circumstances around the crash, according to a representative who corresponded with WGN News.
