By Douglass Dowty
The Post-Standard (Syracuse, New York)
Copyright 2007 Post-Standard
All Rights Reserved
SALINA, N.Y. — A runaway firetruck destroyed the front porch of a Salina home Tuesday night as crews were fighting a fire at a neighbor’s house, authorities said.
No one was behind the steering wheel when the Hinsdale Fire Department truck apparently lost its brakes and started rolling into 600 Boston Road about 9:30 p.m., Onondaga County Undersheriff Warren Darby said.
The truck “got a full head of steam and went off the road,” Darby said.
After plowing through a front yard, the rig crashed head-on into the porch that was jutting out from a white frame house on the corner with Malden Road, across the street from the fire, Darby said.
The truck was among the equipment brought by five departments to a house fire at 519 Florida Road, also on the corner with Malden Road. The two residents of the blue frame house were not injured when it caught fire at 9:21 p.m.
Fire investigators are looking at whether food on the stove ignited the fire, Darby said.
Flames were shooting out the front windows when firefighters arrived, and they said the house would probably be a total loss.
Scott Pendergast lived there with his mother, Annette, neighbors said. They declined to be interviewed Tuesday night.
The truck crashed into the neighbor’s house six minutes after the fire was reported. One person inside heard the noise but was uninjured in the crash, the undersheriff said.
As the truck started rolling west down Malden Road, it veered off the north side of the road, through a yard and into the Boston Road house, Darby said. A fire hose, still connected to a nearby hydrant, showed the straight path the truck traveled.
Deputies were still questioning the truck’s driver about the crash Tuesday night.
“We were fortunate tonight,” Darby said. “Two incidents and no injuries.”