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Tow-truck malfunction nearly wrecks fire truck

The fire chief said he ‘was about to have a heart attack’ watching his engine teeter and rock

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Photo Ivor Brooks
Birmingham Fire and Rescue Chief Ivor Brooks snapped this shot of their fire truck teetering on a flatbed trying to take it to the shop for repair.

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — An 80,000 pound fire truck teetered on the edge of disaster Monday morning while being loaded onto a flatbed for repair.

AL.com reported that Truck One, with the Birmingham Fire and Rescue Service, was in need of a tow to fix a hydraulics problem when the flatbed buckled under the weight of the fire truck.

As a result, it blew a tire, broke a pin that holds the tractor to the rig, and was dangerously close to crashing down on three cars parked nearby, according to the report.

“When I got out here it was rocking,” Birmingham Fire Chief Ivor Brooks said. “I was about to have a heart attack.”

Police blocked off the section near the truck and it was removed from the flatbed, according to the report.

“That would have been a bad day if they had dropped a $1 million truck on those three cars,” Brooks said.

Authorities are now trying to figure out another plan to get the truck to the garage.