Erin Schmidt, 10, of Coraopolis, died a day after the Aug. 19 accident and Joey Lynn Jeffress, 10, was injured. Schmidt was struck in the head by a six-pound nozzle on a fire hose that uncoiled as the truck rushed past them to a fire in Coraopolis, about 10 miles northwest of Pittsburgh.
''Every day I miss her and I just don't understand why she had to leave and why this had to happen,'' Erin's mother, Joyce Schmidt, said at a news conference announcing the lawsuit Wednesday.
Schmidt and Michele Jeffress, Joeylynne's mother, said they were suing primarily to prevent a similar thing from happening to someone else.
''The money doesn't mean anything. I wish I had my daughter back,'' Schmidt said.
''It's awful,'' Jeffress said. ''Joey lives without her best friend.''
Joey has had one surgery where a metal plate was put in her head, but needs more surgery, Michele Jeffress said, explaining her daughter's face ''was basically torn away.''
The lawsuits name the Coraopolis Volunteer Fire Dept. and Boardman Inc., the Oklahoma City company that made the truck. Messages left for Coraopolis' solicitor and the fire chief were not immediately returned. Calls to Boardman were directed to its president, Roger Grommet, who was out Wednesday and did not immediately return a message.
Coraopolis solicitor Richard Start had previously said the fire department found that its members didn't contribute to the accident.
The fire department kept the hose and nozzle folded in a box on the truck with an open side facing away from the truck's side, according to the lawsuits. The hose was either not packed correctly or was jarred loose as the truck traveled to the fire, the attorneys said.
The flailing hose and nozzle became a ''lethal weapon,'' said John P. Gismondi, the attorney for Michele Jeffress.
Boardman was negligent in not providing a means of securing the hose or warning firefighters that the hose could come loose, according to the lawsuits.
Since the accident, the fire department has been using a net to secure the hose, the attorneys said.
''This very simple device would have prevented this incident from happening,'' said Alan H. Perer, attorney for Schmidt.
The attorneys said they've learned of a half-dozen other incidents in which hoses have come loose, but were unaware of any other deaths or injuries. Hoses probably come off more often, but no one keeps statistics, Gismondi said.
The attorneys also criticized a 1980 law capping damage awards against governments at $500,000, meaning the five plaintiffs would have to split that amount if they won.
Gismondi said the amount no longer has the same value today as in 1980 and illustrates a problem with damage caps.
Erin's sister Lindsay Schmidt and Joey's sister, Lauren, both saw the accident and also are plaintiffs.
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