MO Firefighter Ejected in Fire Apparatus Rollover

April 9, 2023
Jared Bennett, the son of Preston Chief Brian Bennett, was seriously injured in the crash.

Two Preston firefighters including the chief's son, were injured when the fire apparatus they were in left the road and rolled over Saturday. 

Jared Bennett and John Sanchez were on their way to a fire south of Preston. There was a curve in the road on Route D, and when the fire truck got to the curve, another car was driving head-on toward the truck in the same lane, according to KY3.com.

Preston Fire Chief Brian Bennett said his son Jared, a chief engineer, is in the trauma ICU waiting for surgery on Monday. 

“All of his ribs are broken; the sternum is broken. So in the morning, they’re going to go in and put everything back together because all of his ribs are displaced, currently has in the chest tube, just having some breathing difficulties associated with a lot of broken ribs,” he said

Sanchez was released after treatment. 

“As we proceeded down the highway, a firefighter came on the radio and told me he had traffic in his lane. At that moment, I was coming around the curve when I met another car in my lane. I had moved over when I came around the curve. I’d seen my chief engineer had been ejected from the vehicle, and our engine had rolled over on its side,” he said adding that the civilian driver left his son in the road 'like road kill.'

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