Ky. firefighters injured in collision with dump truck

By Clara Sanders
The Paducah Sun

KUTTAWA, Ky. — Two Kuttawa firefighters were injured Friday after a firetruck swerved to miss a head-on collision with a dump truck, state police said.

Firefighters Jerry Phelps, 57, and Daniel Littlepage, 21, were traveling U.S. 62 responding to a reported farm fire shortly after 5 p.m., Trooper D.G. Crawford said.

A witness told police that the privately owned dump truck was pulling out of the Hucks Travel Center near Interstate 24's Exit 40 with a green light when the Kuttawa firetruck approached the red light but did not stop at the intersection, Crawford said.

"The two vehicles collided but with minor contact," Crawford said. "However, as the driver of the firetruck attempted to swerve away from the collision, water in the tank shifted, causing its weight to pull the firetruck up on its left side."

The witness, whom Crawford did not identify, also told police that water was spewing onto the road. The firetruck driver lost control of it, and it hit a steel utility pole on the right side of the road.

"After colliding with the pole, the firetruck overturned in a nearby ditch," Lyon County Sheriff Kent Murphy said. "The wreck shut down power lines and stoplights; however, temporary stoplights were put up to help maintain traffic."

Most of the damage to the firetruck was on the front and left side of the truck, Crawford said. The extent of damage had not been determined.

Kuttawa Fire Chief Bill Compton declined to comment.

Assistant Princeton Fire Chief Richard Jones said all fire departments in the area responded as quickly as possible to the report of the firetruck's wreck.

"In my 40 years of being active with the fire department I have never seen a wreck this serious involving a firetruck," Jones said.

Phelps was flown to Deaconess Hospital in Evansville, Ind., and Littlepage was transported to Lourdes hospital in Paducah. Police would not comment on the extent of the two men's injuries.

The dump truck's driver, James R. Nanney, 41, of Almo, was not injured.