By Kaylea M. Hutson-Miller
Grove Sun
LEACH, Okla. — A volunteer firefighter was killed after the tanker truck he was driving to a structure fire was involved in a wreck.
The accident occurred at approximately 7:30 a.m., on Wednesday, Feb. 22, as members of the Leach Fire Department were called out to assist the Oaks Fire Fire Department with a structure fire.
According to Oaks Fire Chief Vince Osburn, his department was paged to the fire at approximately 6:45 a.m., while fighting the fire, they were called out to a one-vehicle roll over approximately one mile from the scene.
Osburn said while traveling to the accident, emergency personnel learned it was a fire truck, which had rolled, landing upside down blocking both lanes of traffic.
According to a report issued by Oklahoma Highway Patrol Trooper Micah Gibe, the firefighter, who has been identified as Michael Dale Russell, 68, of Rose, was driving the 2003 Freightliner Tanker Truck southbound on the country road approximately three miles west and a fourth of a mijle south of Leach on County Road South 510 in Delaware County.
Gibe said for an unknown reason Russell drove off the right side of the roadway and overcorrected, which caused the tanker to overturn one and a half times, before coming to rest on its top.
During the incident, Russell was ejected from the driver’s side window and became pinned by the vehicle. He was declared dead at the scene. Gibe listed the condition of the driver as “apparently normal.”
The cause of the accident remains under investigation. The tanker was equipped with seatbelts, Gibe indicated they were not in use. Conditions at the time of the accident were listed as foggy, but the roadway was dry.
Gibe was assisted by Oklahoma Highway Patrol Troopers John Backward, Dustin Thomton, Keith Barenberg, Bill Overby, Ruben Hernandez, Lt. Rick Mendez, and Captain John Starling, as well as members of the Leach Fire Department, Kansas Fire Department, Oaks Fire Department, Delaware County Sheriff’s Office and the Cherokee Nation’s Emergency Medical Services.
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