I want to know exactly what happened that day in Delray Beach, Florida. Specifically, I want to know what was said and done in the cab of the fire apparatus just before it crossed the tracks and was struck by a commuter train.
What we do know
The basic facts are out there. On Dec. 28, 2024, at 1044, a City of Delray Beach, Florida, fire truck was driven around a closed safety gate at a railroad crossing and was struck by a Brightline commuter train traveling at 79 mph. All three firefighters on the truck were injured along with some passengers on the train. The collision resulted in the ladder truck being sliced into three pieces.
At the time of the collision, the fire truck was responding to a reported apartment fire, but prior to crossing the tracks, the crew had been informed by dispatch that the call might have been the result of burned food on the stove. The ladder truck’s response was canceled by dispatch at nearly the exact same time as the first 911 call for the collision with the train.
Although the driver was initially only issued a non-criminal traffic ticket for the incident, the official investigation later concluded that he “violated three city policies and two Florida traffic laws in the Dec. 28 crash.” He was subsequently fired — although his firing is being contested by the union. No other discipline or corrective action occurred as a result of the incident.
WATCH | Video footage from Brightline Safety & Security Team
Who made the call and why?
Those are the known facts, but many questions remain:
- What was the officer doing when the decision was made?
- Did he say anything?
- Did he tell the driver not to cross the tracks?
- What was the conversation after the driver maneuvered the ladder truck to the front of the line of waiting cars?
- What words were exchanged after the freight train passed but before the commuter train appeared from the opposite direction?
According to more than one source in the investigation, driving around stopped cars at a railroad crossing to be first in line when the safety gates lifted was common practice for the fire department. However, according to the officer’s statement during the investigation, “Under no circumstances is a fire engine to maneuver around guardrails that are down at a railroad crossing.”
And yet it happened. The officer on the rig said that he had no recollection of the incident: “His last memory before the collision was turning onto SE Swinton Avenue from Atlantic Boulevard,” the report said. “His first memory post-crash was in the trauma bay at the hospital.”
Investigators wrote, “Though the passenger is responsible for assisting the driver-engineer, there is no testimony in the record as to whether there was a violation in this incident.” But an officer isn’t merely a passenger. He or she is the person in charge, responsible for actions taken from the moment the alarm comes in until the rig is safely back in quarters post-incident. Is it possible for a driver or firefighter to take unilateral actions in opposition to direct orders of the officer or clear departmental policies? Of course. Did that happen on Dec. 28 in Delray Beach? So far, no one can say.
According to the city, the decision to fire the driver was not based on a single mistake but on a broader pattern of “carelessness and poor judgment.” Yet personnel files obtained by the South Florida Sun Sentinel showed he was consistently praised in reviews by his supervisors, and there were no records indicating he had ever been disciplined or internally investigated previously. One factor mentioned later was that this driver, a 20-year department veteran with ten years’ experience as a driver/operator, had a prior history of driving a rig while under a suspended driver’s license, though his license was current when the accident occurred. And further investigation revealed that multiple Delray Beach Fire Rescue employees had been driving fire engines and rescue trucks with suspended licenses at some point during their employment without supervisors’ knowledge.
Decisions are not made in a vacuum
I am in no way excusing the bad actions of the driver that day — actions that could have had much worse outcomes, and did result in serious injuries and the loss of a $1 million ladder truck.
But this bad decision was not made in a vacuum.
There was another responsible party present when that action was taken, as well as a history and past practice within the department that contributed. Certainly, bad assumptions were made. Firing one person and saying the underlying issues have been resolved only invites other potential tragedies in the future.
I want to know exactly what happened that day, so it can be assured that it will never happen again.
