In other, more nerve-racking news, I was involved in what ended up being (thankfully) a single vehicle accident last Sunday. I was responding to a first responder page for the fire department, alone in a pumper truck, when a minivan pulled out in front of me at an intersection. After making sure the other lane was clear, I was able to swerve around the front of the van, missing him completely. With the weight of all the water on the truck, the back of the truck started to slide, and the truck ended up across the roadway, then rolled over once, stopping back on its wheels! In mid roll, the back of the truck took out the bottom of a power pole, and one of the power lines snapped, starting 4-5 small fires in the bushes. Once the truck had stopped, I got out, called dispatch on a radio, and tried to find a fire extinguisher. By the time I had, the fires had put themselves out, and there wasn't much to do except wait for the other emergency crews to arrive. To everyone's amazement (especially mine), I made it through the incident with only a couple of sore spots! As lucky as I was, I strongly suggest to everyone to take extra care while driving... You can never trust that another driver will do what you expect. Here are a couple of photos of the ruined truck.
The large metal unit in the front is the water tank that used to make up the bulk of the rear of the truck. In the foreground you can see a piece of the power pole. Most of the rescue equipment on the truck was ejected as it rolled. A huge thank you to the rest of the Gabriola fire fighters for cleaning up my mess. And thanks to whoever it was that was looking after me, and allowed me to walk away from the incident.
