PATERSON, N.J. — Eight firefighters were hurt, one seriously, after two firetrucks collided in Paterson on Saturday.
Officials say that seriously injured firefighter was driving one of the trucks involved in the accident.
Cellphone video shows the moment one firetruck T-boned the other on Broadway and Straight Street, sending one truck into the side of the Golden Mango Market. The other engine slammed into a tree.
“I was just shopping, and as I crossed the street, that’s when I heard it and then I turned and saw,” Paterson resident Shameikz Sinclair said.
Officials say it happened just before 6 p.m.
“We have eight firefighters who are injured, one who is pretty severely injured, so we ask that people pray for that individual to make a full and speedy recovery,” Paterson Mayor Andre Sayegh told CBS2’s Thalia Perez.
Both firetrucks, they say, were rushing to a two-alarm fire at an e-bikes shop on Main Street.
“The whole interior of the first floor is completely burnt and damaged by fire,” police and fire director Jerry Speziale said.
Nobody was injured in that fire.
Back at the scene of the accident on Broadway, on-lookers remained while investigators worked to determine what caused the crash.
“Just praying for them and their families and hoping that everybody makes it out OK,” Sinclair said.
The severely injured firefighter was rushed to St. Joseph’s University Medical Center. The other firefighters suffered minor injuries.
Officials say there was no one on the street at the time of the crash, and no one else was injured.