By Laura French
ELLINWOOD, Kan. — A Kansas fire station and two apparatus were destroyed Tuesday when a truck crashed into the station and caught fire.
The Ellinwood Police Department reported that the pickup truck slammed into the Ellinwood Fire Department building shortly before midnight after leaving the road for unknown reasons. The collision caused a fire to ignite and left the pickup driver, Dustin Lee Jahay, trapped in the vehicle.
Police said first responders extinguished the fire and extricated Jahay from the vehicle; he was then transported by air ambulance to the hospital.
Ellinwood Fire Chief Chris Komarek told KSNW that the fire was extinguished quickly but that the building was destroyed in the crash, along with a reserve tanker and brush truck inside.
Komarek said the truck had been traveling at an excessive speed at the time of the crash and police are investigating whether alcohol was involved, according to KWCH.
Officials estimated it will be at least six months before the department has a building to operate out of. Komarek said other agencies will be assisting the department with mutual aid.