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Video: Large crowd surrounds, climbs on responding Calif. fire engine

Oakland Firefighters Local 55 posted about the incident that occurred amidst hundreds of calls for service on July 4

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By Laura French

OAKLAND, Calif. — A California fire engine responding to an emergency was surrounded by a large crowd of people who banged and climbed on it on the Fourth of July, video shows.

Oakland Firefighters Local 55 wrote in a Facebook post that fire crews responded to hundreds of calls for service and dozens of fires across the city on Saturday, and that the engine seen in the video was delayed in its response due to the crowd’s interference.

“Thankfully, the cool headed crew was patient with a crowd that was jumping, dancing and banging on the fire engine and no one was seriously hurt, but our inability to respond to emergencies when we are needed most is distressing,” stated the union’s Facebook post.

The union stated it was concerned by the lack of social distancing, as well as a large number of illegal firework incidents in the city during the wildfire season.

“In a few weeks some of our exposures to Covid 19 will stem from yesterday’s recklessness,” the union wrote in its post on Sunday.

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