Three Memphis firefighters were hospitalized Friday morning after their fire truck was involved in a three-vehicle collision in East Memphis, with officials saying the apparatus itself may be a total loss. The crash happened just before 10:30 a.m. at South Highland Street and Southern Avenue, a busy intersection near the University of Memphis area.
Four firefighters were riding in the fire truck when the collision occurred, according to Action News 5. Three of them were taken to an area hospital in stable condition, the station reported, though its own seed reporting also described the three as being in non-critical condition — the two characterizations were not reconciled in available accounts. The fourth firefighter aboard was not reported injured.
A driver in one of the other vehicles involved in the crash refused medical treatment at the scene, per the same account. Officials told the station that the fire truck appears to be a total loss, underscoring the severity of the impact even though none of the reported injuries were described as life-threatening.
Police Investigating, Cause Still Unclear
The Memphis Police Department is leading the investigation into what caused the crash, the station's report notes. Investigators have not released what led up to the collision, and as of Friday the investigation remained ongoing. Separately, Fox13 Memphis reported that police said the East Memphis crash resulted in the fire truck slamming into a pole, though it's unclear how that account lines up with the intersection location cited elsewhere.
South Highland and Southern Avenue sits in a stretch of East Memphis that has seen other serious wrecks in recent memory. In a separate crash at Park Avenue and Highland Street, Fox13 Memphis reported that a two-car collision just after 8 a.m. sent three people, including a minor, to the hospital in non-critical condition.
A Fatal Reminder of the Risks Fire Crews Face
Memphis fire crews have faced far graver outcomes responding to emergencies before. According to WKRN, a Memphis firefighter was killed and three other firefighters and a civilian were injured when a Memphis Fire Department truck crashed at E.H. Crump Boulevard and Wellington just after 8 p.m. while responding to a fire in the 500 block of Cambridge Avenue. That firefighter was identified as David Pleasant, who had served with the department for 32 years. The three injured firefighters in that crash were later released from the hospital, while no update was provided on the civilian's condition, and police at the time said surveillance video could help determine the cause since it remained unknown.
No such detail about whether Friday's fire truck was responding to an emergency call has been released. Memphis police have not said what caused the crash or detailed the sequence of events leading up to it, and the investigation remains active.
