2 injured in fire truck collision

TROY TOWNSHIP - Two people were injured Friday afternoon after a pick-up truck and an Allen County aerial fire truck collided on Fremont Pike Road in Troy Township in northern Wood County.

Emergency officials on the scene said a black Ford F-150 pick-up truck was traveling north on Luckey Road and continued through a posted stop sign.

The aerial ladder truck, from the Shawnee Township Fire Department near Lima, reportedly rolled over three times after being "t-boned" by the pick-up truck.

The fire truck came to rest in a ditch at a 90-degree angle to Route 20.

The accident happened at around 1:20 p.m.

"It was like a movie, really. You don't ever expect to see something like that," said Tim Skeldon, who witnessed the crash. "It was so loud, so fast happening that I had a phone in my hand I didn't even call 9-1-1. I'm screaming for someone to call 9-1-1 - your adrenaline starts flowing."

Two air ambulances shuttled the two injured victims to the University of Toledo Medical Center in South Toledo. The two people injured are a man and a woman, emergency officials said, and both suffered non-life threatening injuries.

"It shakes you up a little bit," said Larry Shue, who also witnessed the crash. Shue was driving behind the ladder truck moments before the jarring collision.

The Bowling Green Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol identified the two victims as Dick Oder, 58, of Lima, and Victoria Baker, 42, of Luckey.

Baker was operating the 2001 Ford F-150 while Oder was driving the fire truck.

"It's amazing to see something like that, the energy, to roll over a truck of that size," Shue said.

"It was so loud, so fast happening," Skeldon said.

Witnesses said the fire truck driver, a fireman, was pinned inside the cab, but he was more concerned about the female inside the pick-up. The OHP said both were using seatbelts.

"We just ran over to the cab to see what we could do to see how many people we could find," Skeldon said. "We found the one driver and started pulling and tried to get him out. We tried to relieve pressure off of his legs. He was pinned."

"He was talking, he was alert. Looked like he had a broken jaw and cuts to his face. He was more concerned about the other driver and what happened."

Lake Township Police Chief Mark Hummer said he saw the fire truck at Williams Detroit Diesel on Libbey Road in Lake Twp. Thursday. The firm often repairs fire equipment with diesel engines. Bowling Green's fire department has had several units repaired by the firm.

The Shawnee Twp. Fire Dept. aerial truck was returning to Allen County, emergency officials told FOXToledo.com.

"Dick in in serious, but stable condition and is going to recover from his injuries," Shawnee Twp. Fire Chief John Norris said Friday evening. "Make no mistake though, he is a lucky man to be alive. Our thoughts and prayers continue to be with our brother and his family as well as the other victim in the collision."

Oder, an EMT, has been a firefighter for nearly 25 years.

In a twist, it was Oder who had to be freed from the cab by the Jaws of Life. It's normally the other way around, Capt. Norris told FOXToledo.com.

"There's no heroism in something like this because if you were laying in that truck or that thing, those fire department people would be working for you," Skeldon said.

UTMC had no word on Baker's condition Friday evening.

The aerial ladder, which is now totaled, was being serviced for an issue with a throttle control that affected the water pump. Now, the Shawnee Twp. Fire Dept. is dealing with a very expensive loss.

"We are looking at $500,000 to $1 million to replace the ladder," Sgt. Norris said. "We obviously have mutual aid with other area departments so we will be able to contact our brother units to help us. But in the long term we haven't got that far yet."

"That's a chunk, but it can be replaced. You just can't replace people."

 A section of U.S. 20 / Fremont Pike Road, between Luckey and East Broadway, was shut down to vehicular traffic for at least six hours while emergency crews and first responders tended to the crash site.

Both vehicles were towed from the accident scene.

The crash remains under investigation.

(FOX Toledo's Tiffany Tarpley, Barrett Andrews, and The Bowling Green Sentinel-Tribune contributed to this report)