By FireRescue1 Staff
KILGORE, Texas — The mother of a Texas firefighter killed in an aerial ladder training exercise has filed a lawsuit against firefighting equipment manufacturers and the city where he died.
Firefighter Cory Galloway’s family filed a lawsuit against E-One Inc., Hall-Mark Fire Apparatus and the city of Kilgore in connection with his death.
He and another firefighter, Kyle Perkins, were killed when they fell 83 feet from a 95-foot aerial platform truck during an on-duty during a training exercise at Kilgore College in January last year.
The aerial platform had snagged onto the side of a college dormitory building, and flung the firefighters off after springing loose.
A lack of fall restraint equipment and unfamiliarity with the ladder truck’s controls were cited by NIOSH investigators as contributing factors in the death.
Firefighter Galloway’s mother, Regina Galloway, says the city and companies should have provided safety restraints for the firefighters.
“Firefighters were misled by the defendants into thinking that training on and operating the aerial platform without safety belts was an acceptable and normal practice,” the lawsuit says.
The lawsuit also alleges the apparatus was not designed to minimize the risk that the lifting eyes would become snagged on buildings.
“This tragic incident was preventable, and this court action under the IAFF’s Front Line Policy is an important part of the efforts to ensure that it does not happen again to Cory’s fellow firefighters,” IAFF General President Harold A. Schaitberger said.
The aerial platform truck was manufactured by E-One Inc., and sold to the City of Kilgore Fire Department by Hall-Mark Fire Apparatus of Texas.
Regina Galloway is seeking an unspecified amount of money for damages including wrongful death, gross negligence and products liability.