By Daniel Walker
The Greenville Herald-Banner
MERIT, Texas — Hunt County firefighters were spinning their wheels Sunday — literally.
At least four fire trucks, as well as two support vehicles, were reported stuck in the mud as firefighters attempted to battle an out of control brush fire Sunday afternoon.
Firefighters from Merit and Celeste were battling a brush fire off of County Road 1109, north of FM 2194, when three brush trucks became trapped in the muck.
The mud was spawned by seven inches of rain that have fallen in the past 10 days, which has also made unpaved county roads dangerous for motorists.
“It’s mess out here, the ground in these fields is really soft,” said Celeste firefighter Scott Sipe.
Attempting to unstick the fire trucks resulted in a pickup truck and a tractor also sinking into the mire. “We had a couple of good Samaritans trying to help us out get stuck as well,” said Celeste firefighter Justin Jordan. “It’s real tricky fighting the fire.”
In addition, a water tanker en route to the fire, suffered a mechanical break and wrecked on US highway 69, north of F.M. 2194, and also became stuck.
“I was driving down the highway, going about 50 miles per hour, when it just started shimmying and I couldn’t keep it on the road,” said Celeste firefighter Jeremy Crane. “It was everything I could do to keep it from flipping over.”
The truck jumped a bar ditch and came to a rest embedded in mud on the west highway ditch. “I told the folks across the street I’m glad it went this way and not to the other side of the road,” Crane said gesturing to a line of trees along the roadway. “I would have took out that tree.”
Firefighters were able to contain the fire and free all of the vehicles but reported that Brush Truck 32 was permanently out of service.
Copyright 2009