Fla. fire truck flips after being struck by pickup en route to call

Austen Erblat
South Florida Sun-Sentinel

PALM BEACH, Fla. — A Palm Beach County Fire Rescue truck heading to an emergency flipped on to its side Saturday afternoon after it was struck by a pickup truck.

The crash happened just after 2:30 p.m. at Palmetto Park Road and Powerline Road in West Boca.

Four people were taken to a hospital but it was not immediately clear who the victims were or the extent of their injuries.

The cause of the crash was under investigation, said Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Captain Pat Wehrle.

Michael Vivarttas, a health advisor at USHEALTH Advisors, was in his office when he heard the collision.

“I heard a loud bang and look out the window to see a firetruck flipped on its side,” he said. “The firetruck was going south on Powerline when a silver truck going west on Palmetto hit the back end of the firetruck.”

Video shot by Vivarttas shows a firefighter emerging from the driver’s seat of the firetruck on his own. As the video pans over, it shows the silver pickup truck with its front end damaged and stopped in the intersection.

He says within minutes, a number of other fire trucks and ambulances were at the scene of the crash.

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