Abstract
On July 2, 2000, a 17-year-old male volunteer junior fire fighter (the victim), died after his privately owned vehicle (POV) collided with a farm tractor. At 1535 hours, the volunteer fire department was dispatched to a structure fire, and the victim responded in his POV to the fire station. En route to the station the victim was traveling in the southbound (right) lane on a two-lane township road when after negotiating a curve, the victim's POV drifted into the northbound (left) lane of the road. Traveling northbound was a driver on a farm tractor with an attached front-end loader. The victim's POV ( pickup truck) struck the left side of the front-end loader, which on impact entered the windshield and pushed through the "A" post, forcing back part of the roof to the bed area. The victim was found unconscious in his POV and was transported by a helicopter to an area hospital, where he was pronounced dead approximately 1 hour after the incident. NIOSH investigators concluded that, to minimize the risk of similar occurrences, fire departments should ensure that fire fighters follow standard operating procedures (SOPs) and State motor-vehicle codes for safely driving and operating a privately owned vehicle (POV) while responding to a fire alarm.
