Subject: [NEXTEL-1] 1 dead, several hurt as firetrucks collide- Officials Look at "MIRT Type" device.

From: [email-masked]
Date: Wed, 28 Apr 2004 12:32:13 -0400

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-040428firetrucks,1,6161629.story?coll=chi-news-hed

1 dead, several hurt as firetrucks collide
By Brett McNeil and Angela Rozas.
Tribune staff reporters
April 28, 2004, 9:55 AM CDT

One firefighter was killed and several others were injured Tuesday
evening when two firetrucks
collided in Melrose Park as they were responding to a garage fire in
unincorporated Leyden
Township.

A Northlake Fire Department truck struck a Stone Park firetruck at
Mannheim Road and Armitage Avenue about 5:50 p.m., said Dean Krone,
village attorney for Stone Park.

The impact hurtled the Stone Park truck, smashing its front and sides
before it landed on its side facing south across Armitage.
Two firefighters from Stone Park were taken to Loyola University Medical
Center, where one died.
The Cook County medical examiner's office identified the fatality as
Jeffrey Bergstrom, 34, of Chicago.
Bergstrom worked for the Stone Park Fire Department on his days off from
Ambulance Co. 44, at Division Street and Western Avenue, at the Chicago
Fire Department, WGN-Ch. 9 reported.

The other firefighter was seriously injured and remained hospitalized at
Loyola this morning with head and leg injuries, CLTV reported.

Another Stone Park firefighter was taken to Elmhurst Memorial Hospital,
where he was treated and released, according to a hospital spokeswoman.

Three firefighters from Northlake were taken to Westlake Hospital in
Melrose Park, where they were treated and released, a hospital
spokeswoman said.

It was not clear how the Stone Park truck, northbound on Mannheim,
collided with the Northlake truck, heading east on Armitage, but both
appeared to arrive in the intersection at the same time, Krone said.

"My understanding is they were both in motion when the collision
occurred," he said. "This is a tragic event for both communities, and
I'm sure the workers at both departments feel very deeply (about it.)"

The intersection's traffic lights are equipped with a system that allows
emergency vehicles to override the signal. Officials could
not say if either truck had activated the system.

Melrose Park police and Illinois State Police are investigating,
authorities said.

Blocks from the scene, traffic on both roads came to a stop for several
hours. Dozens of people gathered at the usually busy commercial
intersection to view the wreckage.

Cecil Graham, 39, a mechanic with Pollard Motor Co. in Melrose Park, was
walking outside when the crash occurred, he said.
"As soon as (the truck) crossed the first lane of traffic, that's when I
heard the bomb, the big explosion," he said.
More than half a dozen emergency agencies responded to the crash. One
firefighter had to be extricated from a truck as others fought shooting
flames.

After Bergstrom was pronounced dead at Loyola, Stone Park firefighters
and police escorted his body, draped in U.S. and Stone Park flags, to
the Stein Institute, where they held a brief memorial service early this
morning, WGN reported.
An American flag was lowered to half-staff at the Stone Park Fire
Station, where firefighters declined to talk.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chi-040428firetrucks,1,6161629.story?coll=chi-news-hed

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