The Kalamazoo Gazette (Michigan)
LAWTON, Mich. — The driver of a Lawton fire tanker that overturned Jan. 4, injuring another firefighter who was a passenger, was ticketed for driving too fast for conditions — even though the two were responding to a fire.
Firefighter Dan Sanderson, 21, had surgery Jan. 5 at Bronson Methodist Hospital in Kalamazoo to mend his injured jaw after being ejected from the firetruck when the driver, firefighter Heath Hitchcock, 26, lost control of the vehicle on icy roads. Sanderson was not wearing a seat belt at the time.
Hitchcock, worked for the Lawton Fire Department for about three years, wasn’t injured in the crash, police said, but was ticketed for driving too fast for conditions.
Lawton Fire Chief Tim Seppala said he was upset his driver was being blamed for an accident he said was caused by the county’s failure to adequately salt the road.
“You couldn’t drive 2 miles per hour and not crash that thing,” he said Jan. 4. “I don’t believe it’s my driver’s fault.
“The roads were extremely icy. ... Van Buren (county officials) failed to salt them.”
Seppala said the department encourages its firefighters to wear seat belts.
But Sgt. Wayne Polomcak, of the Van Buren County Sheriff’s Office, said Hitchcock “was driving too fast.”
“The law says you have to keep your vehicle under control at all times. If I damage a patrol car because I’m going too fast for conditions, I could get a ticket,” Polomcak said.
Bryan Sanderson, the injured firefighter’s father, said he was annoyed police issued the ticket immediately after the two men were rushed to the hospital for treatment.
“My thought is, They’re firemen, and they were only going 30 miles per hour. It was just an accident,” Bryan Sanderson said. “Heath is just torn up over Dan being hurt.”
Dan Sanderson, whose jaw was wired shut during the surgery, is expected to heal in six to eight weeks. He has worked for Lawton Fire Department for about two years and also works part time as an officer at the Bangor Police Department.
The two firefighters involved in the crash — which took place on County Road 657 near 66th Avenue in Van Buren County’s Antwerp Township — were responding to a mutual-aid call to help the Mattawan Fire Department with a barn fire in the 27000 block of 49th Avenue, officials said.
Fire equipment from other area departments filled in for the Lawton tanker, Mattawan Lt. Scott Brooks said.
The barn, which contained two vehicles, small propane tanks and tools, was a total loss, Brooks said.