Karla Ward
Lexington Herald-Leader
LEXINGTON, Ky. — A driver was critically injured Saturday afternoon in a crash involving a fire engine. The collision left Harrodsburg Road shut down for hours.
The engine was making a left turn from Harrodsburg Road onto Beaumont Centre Parkway when it collided with an SUV that was headed outbound on Harrodsburg at about 1:50 p.m., said Lexington police Lt. Samantha Moore.
Moore said the driver of the SUV was taken to University of Kentucky Chandler Hospital. No one else was in the vehicle.
Battalion Chief Jordan Saas said the driver had to be extricated from the SUV and had life-threatening injuries.
He said there were three firefighters aboard the engine at the time of the collision, and none of them were injured.
Saas said the Lexington Fire Department’s Engine 20 had been dispatched to a report of a gas leak in the Beaumont Circle area at 1:46 p.m. and was responding to that call when the crash occurred.
Moore said the fire engine’s lights and sirens were activated, and she said witnesses said that the engine had the right-of-way.
Moore said Harrodsburg Road might be shut down until 9 p.m. Saturday.
As of 4 p.m., all lanes of Harrodsburg Road were shut down between New Circle Road and Arrowhead Drive, she said.
The Lexington Police Department’s Collision Reconstruction Unit is investigating the wreck.
Saas said the engine is assigned to the fire station nearby on Arrowhead Drive.
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