Driver skids van into parked firetruck

http://www.columbian.com/news/2010/dec/30/fire-station-6-closes-firehouses-final-flames/

A Vancouver firetruck was struck overnight on the Burton Road overpass by an airport shuttle van traveling northbound on Interstate 205. The truck was parked in the right lane tending to a multivehicle, noninjury collision with its emergency lights flashing.

In total, there were five accidents on I-205 between Mill Plain Boulevard and Fourth Plain Road, said Capt. David James, a Vancouver Fire Department spokesman. The fire truck was struck shortly after 1 a.m.

No firefighters were injured when the shuttle van slid from the left lane and into the engine, James said. The van was transporting a single passenger.

“The driver of the shuttle van was taken Code 3, lights and sirens, to the hospital to be evaluated,” James said.

The driver was identified by the Washington State Patrol as Mohammed B. Ghambar, 30, of Portland.

The passenger of the van held Ghambar‘s head in place until firefighters could begin treating him; to ensure their own safety, firefighters had to wait for a second unit to arrive to block a lane of traffic.

Ghambar complained of neck and back pains. James did not know Ghambar’s condition but said he was expected to survive. Ghambar was cited for driving too fast for the conditions.

The firetruck incurred an estimated $1,000 damage. It is Truck 6, one of two city ladder trucks. Ironically, today is the truck’s last scheduled day to be in service. It will be mothballed and its fire station, Station 6, closed after today due to city budget shortfalls.

James said en route to the initial crash reported on I-205 firefighters passed a police vehicle that had spun out.

“It’s still foggy there and really icy,” James said this morning of I-205 between Mill Plain and Fourth Plain.

It was a busy night for Vancouver firefighters, who responded at about 12:30 a.m. to two dumpster fires near East Mill Plain Boulevard and Northeast 87th Avenue.

The fires are believed to have been set intentionally and are under investigation by the Vancouver Fire Marshal’s Office and Vancouver Police Department.