Copyright 2006 Tribune Review Publishing Company
All Rights Reserved
By TOM YERACE
Tribune-Review (Greensburg, Pa.)
A Herminie firefighter was injured Wednesday when he was hit by a fire truck while responding to the collapse of an abandoned church in the Lowber section of Sewickley Township.
Mark Ghion, chief of the Sutersville Volunteer Fire Department, which also responded to the call, said he did not know the firefighter’s name but said his injury did not appear to be life-threatening. He said the accident occurred as his company was preparing to leave the scene of the building collapse that occurred at 5:06 p.m.
A man who answered the telephone at the Herminie fire hall last night identified himself as an assistant chief but would not give his name. He said the company did not want to release the firefighter’s name and did not want to discuss the incident.
“It was just a minor leg injury and he is already on his way home and that’s all we’re going to tell you,” the man said.
Ghion said the Herminie firefighter was trying to leave the scene in his vehicle and was behind a Lowber Volunteer Fire Department truck. He apparently had a problem starting his car, according to Ghion, and was out of his vehicle when he was struck.
Ghion said the injured man was taken to Mercy Jeannette Hospital by ambulance, and the state police were called to investigate the accident.
Ghion, who initially was the officer in charge at the scene, said he did not know the name of the old wooden church in Lowber but said it had been vacant for at least 30 years.
“It was basically just an old abandoned building that got deteriorated to the point where it just collapsed,” Ghion said, adding that the building was up for sale.
He said three walls and the roof of the church collapsed, leaving only the front wall and the steeple standing. Ghion said firefighters, who were on the scene for about two hours, cleared debris off the adjacent roads and knocked down a piece of a collapsed wall still attached to the remaining wall.
“Kids wait there for the school bus every morning and we didn’t want to leave it hanging there,” Ghion said. “We notified the township now because it is going to be their responsibility to make sure it’s in safe condition.”