If you’ve been on a fire department more than a few years, you have first-hand stories of someone banging up a rig — it may have been you driving. While we can’t stress enough the importance of caution when driving, you sometimes have to sit back and shake your head at some of the driving mishaps.
In that spirit, we asked our readers to share the time they made someone say: “That’s why we can’t have nice things.” If you have a story to share, please add it to the comment section. And by all means, be careful behind the wheel.
1.“Had a mechanical-advantage system set up on the trailer hitch of our F350. Got to talking and goofing off, picked up a wreck, got in and took off. Brought the MA 500 feet down the hill with me.” — Ryan Campbell
2.“Had a engineer back up a rig into my car once. Ha.” — Susan Nielsen
3.“We have got a new engine and our bay was not quite big enough. You had to idle out to clear the light bar. One day we got overly excited and ripped the light bar off the top of the engine — not a good day. The engine was put out of service and we had a full-blown structure fire; had to take our old engine and it didn’t want to start, so not a very good day.” — Robert Newman
4.“I remember many years ago I backed our EP into the fire chief’s personal vehicle. He was not happy.” — Jerry Kirsch Sr.
5.“We had a fuel leak on a new brush truck, found it on a wildland fire. Had to refocus when it became engulfed in flames. It was repaired and is still in service; not a good thing for a small department.” — Jon Katvala
6.“I dumped 1,200 feet of large-diameter hose on the road in front of the station. Glad I didn’t need it where I was going.” — Jason Clatt
7.“Where to start? LOL.” — Bill Bennett
8.“Lost power in our station got the door open and told the driver to pull forward. As he did, the door rolled down and caught the light bar on our rescue truck and almost ripped it clean off — not a good day. Best part was the driver of the truck was my older brother. LOL.” — Josh Tody
