FIRE APPARATUS STRUCK WHILE BLOCKING IN SOUTH CAROLINA
PICKENS COUNTY, SC
July 18, 2016
When first responders are called to a car crash, the victim’s life isn’t the only one they’re worried about.
Firefighters and other first responders have to worry about themselves too.
This weekend, firefighters in Pickens County were on scene, responding to a fire, when a pick-up truck crashed into the fire truck yesterday.
The way they parked that fire truck helped prevent serious injuries.
Firefighters park their trucks in what’s called the “defensive parking position” to help protect the first responders and the rest of the scene.
Defensive parking means the truck is parked at a diagonal to shut down a lane, or on smaller roads, block the roadway all together.
Firefighters say often times drivers try to take pictures or videos of a crash, and this distracted driving leads to other chain reaction crashes.
The best thing people can do is put the phone down and drive slowly. This way, crews won’t have to work another crash at the same spot. Officials say you can be cited if you try to drive through the scene of an accident, or if you try to go around the crash in an unsafe way.