A responding fire apparatus in a community near the southern North Carolina border was toppled late Thursday afternoon when it was struck by an SUV at an intersection.
The Laurinburg Exchange reports that a city water tanker was responding to a grass fire at about 5:29 p.m. when the vehicle wound up on its side after it was hit by a Ford Explorer at the intersection of King Street and US 401.
There was only one firefighter in the apparatus at the time and he was uninjured, but the SUV's driver and a passenger were taken to a local hospital for evaluation after both appeared alert at the scene.
The names of the firefighter and the other two people involved in the crash were not released.
Laurinburg Fire Chief Randy Gibson told The Exchange that the apparatus is owned by the county but was assigned to the North Laurinburg Station.
“(The firefighter) was on route to a fire call on Academy Road,” Gibson said. “He pulled up to the intersection and was stopped with his lights and siren and this vehicle came traveling northbound and caught the back of the fire truck in such a way that it tipped over on its side.
"All other directions had stopped and yielded for him."
Gibson said it was too early to determine if the $300,000 apparatus is salvageable, adding it appeared to have suffered frame damage. The vehicle carries about 750 gallons of water as well as 25 gallons of firefighting foam.
Laurinburg is a city of roughly 15,500 people in Scotland County about 41 miles southwest of Fayetteville.
