The Associated Press
 
WATERBURY, Conn. — Two Waterbury fire trucks collided while heading to a fire Saturday morning, sending eight firefighters to the hospital and critically injuring two, fire officials said.

The two trucks, a ladder truck and an engine, collided at about 10:30 a.m. said Ray Lodge, a spokesman for the department.

The trucks were responding to a kitchen fire in a home, he said.

Captain John Keane was airlifted to Yale-New Haven Hospital, where he was in critical condition Saturday with head and internal injuries, fire officials said.

Driver Joseph Fischetti, 45, also suffered internal injuries and was in critical condition at Waterbury Hospital. He and Keane were thrown from the engine truck.

Firefighter Coral Barnes, 59, was extricated from the wreckage, officials said. He was taken to Waterbury Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Three other firefighters, William Roberts, 36, Chris Beatty, 39, and William Mahoney, 48, were admitted to area hospitals with injuries that were not considered life threatening.

Todd Nugai, 34, and William Unwin, 38, were treated at St. Mary's Hospital and released.

The engine truck was headed west on East Aurora Street and the ladder truck was traveling north on Route 73 when they collided at a high rate of speed at the intersection of the two roadways.

The impact spun the engine truck around. It stopped before going over an embankment and into a ditch.

Windshields, broken headlights, a door and other debris from the vehicles littered the road.

At a news conference Saturday, Fire Chief Michael Maglione said an investigation will include an examination of the trucks' repair records.

The ladder truck was damaged when it was hit in the rear by a vehicle in September and was taken out of service and replaced, the Republican-American of Waterbury reported Saturday.

The fire on Saturday started with food burning on a stove, and was handled by other companies responding to the incident, fire officials said.