Fire Dept. Tanker Truck Rolls Over in Calvert Sat. a.m.

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This just in...

On Saturday, March 18, 2017 at approximately 8:09 a.m., deputies from the Calvert County Sheriff's Office responded to Robinson Road in Huntingtown for an overturned tanker from the Dunkirk Volunteer Fire Department. The tanker was responding as the primary water supply to a house fire in Huntingtown. Two firefighters were injured in the crash. One patient was transported to CMH for evaluation, and one was transported by helicopter to MedStar Washington Hospital Center in critical condition. Both names are being held pending notifications.

The original house fire has been extinguished, and remains under investigation. This accident remains under investigation by the Calvert County Crash Reconstruction Team. Anyone with any information regarding this accident should call Detective Vlad Bortchevsky at 410-535-2800, or email at bortchv@co.cal.md.us
 

officeguy

Well-Known Member
The kids need to let off the gas a bit. That's the fourth rolled firetruck in the last 3 years in the tricounty area.
 

mdff21

Active Member
The kids need to let off the gas a bit. That's the fourth rolled firetruck in the last 3 years in the tricounty area.

My friend you are assuming that it was a "kid". The driver was a retired Maryland State Trooper with over 25 years in the fire service. Wait until the actual findings are available before you go assuming "kids need to let off the gas a bit" Thoughts and prayers to both members that were flown to Medstar in DC.
 

black dog

Free America
My friend you are assuming that it was a "kid". The driver was a retired Maryland State Trooper with over 25 years in the fire service. Wait until the actual findings are available before you go assuming "kids need to let off the gas a bit" Thoughts and prayers to both members that were flown to Medstar in DC.


Wanna bet it happened on a curve on Robinson Rd?
How about this, every year it seems that Fireman / LE somewhere in southern Maryland drive like there hair is on fire and crash and never do make it to the fire or accident along with destroying hundreds of thousands of the taxpayers money. It's reckless and easily avoided.
They drive way to carelessly and fast. How many time do you get passed by a Trooper or Deputy doing 80+ mph and then they turn into Wawa,
I would guess they are touching cotton maybe???
 

mdff21

Active Member
For all those making assumptions. This just in the Accident Reconstruction Team has determined that as "Tanker 5 was progressing through a curve on Robinson Road a tire failure, with a blowout and full tread separation occurred" which was a factor causing the accident.
 
For all those making assumptions. This just in the Accident Reconstruction Team has determined that as "Tanker 5 was progressing through a curve on Robinson Road a tire failure, with a blowout and full tread separation occurred" which was a factor causing the accident.

I saw one of the tires in a photograph posted on Dunkirk's website appeared that the tread had separated. I will wait until the accident investigation is completed before commenting, except to say that I am sending prayers for the two firefighters injured in the accident.
 

officeguy

Well-Known Member
My friend you are assuming that it was a "kid". The driver was a retired Maryland State Trooper with over 25 years in the fire service.

Even worse. Troopers around here drive like #######s, with or without lights. I would fire all of them.
 

black dog

Free America
For all those making assumptions. This just in the Accident Reconstruction Team has determined that as "Tanker 5 was progressing through a curve on Robinson Road a tire failure, with a blowout and full tread separation occurred" which was a factor causing the accident.

Its not like you ever see worn out tires on a Fire Dept Truck, wanna guess that it didn't have a full tread separation?
For a $1,000 Alex i'll take excessive speed with a full load of water on board, its no different when a tanker truck rolls over exiting the highway on a cloverleaf.

For $ 10,000 Alex, show me on the picture which of the front tires has had the " FULL TREAD SEPARATION " View attachment 117747

a rear retread separating will never cause that under NORMAL driving conditions.
 
Last edited:

DoWhat

Deplorable
PREMO Member
Its not like you ever see worn out tires on a Fire Dept Truck, wanna guess that it didn't have a full tread separation?
For a $1,000 Alex i'll take excessive speed with a full load of water on board, its no different when a tanker truck rolls over exiting the highway on a cloverleaf.

For $ 10,000 Alex, show me on the picture which of the front tires has had the " FULL TREAD SEPARATION " View attachment 117747

a rear retread separating will never cause that under NORMAL driving conditions.
They replaced the tire while they had access.
 

Grumpy

Well-Known Member
Wanna bet it happened on a curve on Robinson Rd?
How about this, every year it seems that Fireman / LE somewhere in southern Maryland drive like there hair is on fire and crash and never do make it to the fire or accident along with destroying hundreds of thousands of the taxpayers money. It's reckless and easily avoided.
They drive way to carelessly and fast. How many time do you get passed by a Trooper or Deputy doing 80+ mph and then they turn into Wawa,
I would guess they are touching cotton maybe???

I would be very surprised if the gentleman driving tanker 5 was at fault for this accident. Years of experience and definitely no cowboy, the type of person you want volunteering.
 

black dog

Free America
I would be very surprised if the gentleman driving tanker 5 was at fault for this accident. Years of experience and definitely no cowboy, the type of person you want volunteering.

I guess with all the experience he has, he must've missed that retread starting to separate when he did his truck inspection Saturday morning when his shift started.
 

officeguy

Well-Known Member
I guess with all the experience he has, he must've missed that retread starting to separate when he did his truck inspection Saturday morning when his shift started.

A blowout of a single tire on a drive-axle shouldn't turn a truck turtle.
 

MyTwoCents

New Member
I have to say I'm shocked and disappointed in most of the people commenting on this thread. We just recently moved down here and if this is how you treat emergency personnel I don't want to know how you treat the other people around you. I'm glad I'm not friends or related to any of you that are saying awful things.
Two people were hurt in this accident and that is where the comments should be focused, sending thoughts and prayers to them and those affected by the fire that they were responding to.
Shame on all of you that have NO FACTS nor any idea of how the driver drives or what kind of person he is. You just use your internet muscles to run your mouth and make assumptions based on NOTHING!
I hope you make up the minority of people in this area and that we made a good decision bringing our kids to this area. I know they have to experience all walks of life to make it in the real world but this isn't the first post I've seen nonsense like this in recent months.
Prayers to all of those affected by this accident and fire and prayers to those that need a conscience check.
 

black dog

Free America
There is plenty of facts, how about the fact that the water truck is upside down after driving through a curve in the road, I don't care what tire lost its tread it will not cause a truck to go off road and roll over unless the truck was traveling at excessive speed.
And we all know that a huge portion of the fine volunteers drive there own and county equipment way to fast for no other reason than to get to the " Call " 27 seconds faster.
How much damage happened because this water truck never arrived at the " Call " ?
The Southern County's should have gone to a paid fire department decades ago and put this driving with " Your Hair on Fire " to sleep forever.
 

Bird Dog

Bird Dog
PREMO Member
There is plenty of facts, how about the fact that the water truck is upside down after driving through a curve in the road, I don't care what tire lost its tread it will not cause a truck to go off road and roll over unless the truck was traveling at excessive speed.
And we all know that a huge portion of the fine volunteers drive there own and county equipment way to fast for no other reason than to get to the " Call " 27 seconds faster.
How much damage happened because this water truck never arrived at the " Call " ?
The Southern County's should have gone to a paid fire department decades ago and put this driving with " Your Hair on Fire " to sleep forever.
What makes paid personnel safer?
I know the Unions say it is so....but they suck the County coffers dry......the expense of that accident wouldn't touch the pension of five Union personnel .........
 

mdff21

Active Member
The Southern County's should have gone to a paid fire department decades ago and put this driving with " Your Hair on Fire " to sleep forever.

Have you ever seen how the career firefighters drive? How many accidents have the career fire departments had in comparison to the volunteer fire departments?

Are you ready for the increase in your taxes to support a career (paid) fire department. Here are a few statistics for you. The average firefighter in Maryland makes about $50,000.00 in salary per year. To have a career fire department there are minimum standards for manning the fire apparatus. Staffing would be 4 firefighters per shift per station minimum. When I say minimum, that is for 1 piece of apparatus, either an engine (pumper), ladder truck or a rescue squad (not an ambulance). Some stations would need more than 4 firefighters since they have additional apparatus that is required on an incident but we will go with the minimum for now. You would need 4 shifts for proper coverage and to allow proper time off between shifts and to meet the FSLA work week requirements. So let's see where we are, 4 firefighters per station that's $200,000.00 per station per shift. 4 shifts per station would bring it to $800,000.00. Now with 6 fire stations in the county, that would bring the total in salaries to $4,800,000.00. We haven't figured in for benefits (medical, retirement contributions etc) Also there would be sick and vacation days involved where someone would be paid overtime for the coverage. This does not include salaries for the additional personnel assigned to ambulances or firefighters assigned to the ladder trucks or rescue squads. Each of the 6 departments either has a ladder truck or rescue squad so you can add that into your equation and your final costs well over 10 million dollars a year for salaries. Then you have to figure in the cost of maintenance for the apparatus.
 

officeguy

Well-Known Member
I have to say I'm shocked and disappointed in most of the people commenting on this thread. We just recently moved down here and if this is how you treat emergency personnel I don't want to know how you treat the other people around you.

I think we treat our emergency personnel quite well. Most down here appreciate all the work and time our volunteers invest into providing fire protection and EMS across such a large area It's just that anyone with his eyes open will notice that some of those first responders don't extend the same courtesy to the nice equipment our taxes and donations buy them. Volunteer ambulances that take turns with a rear wheel lifted, fire apparatus driven in an unsafe manner, a firefighter who runs over the sheriff etc. Look at southern MD as a midsize city of 250k. In this 'city', in the last 4 years we had 3 firetrucks rolled on their side or roof. 1 in St Marys, 1 in Charles and now 1 in Calvert. Several firefighters have been injured in the process and a lot of equipment destroyed. Not to mention the fact that a firetruck on its side in a ditch won't be able to respond to the emergency it was called out for. Had this number of incidents happened in a career department in said 'virtual city' of 250k there would be firings at the command level.

Yes, they need to let off the gas. An extra 10mph around a turn or through an intersection won't get you to the fireground more than a couple of seconds faster.


Dunkirk
https://smnewsnet.com/archives/4164...ved-in-motor-vehicle-accidenti-n-huntingtown/

Newburg
https://smnewsnet.com/archives/87158/fire-truck-in-charles-county-involved-in-rollover-accident/

Bay District
https://smnewsnet.com/archives/88634/fire-truck-accident-in-st-marys-county/
 
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