Arkansas Fire Fighters’ Narrow Escape

April 11, 2008 – When heavy storms came through Benton, Arkansas, in early April, Benton Local 2765 fire fighters braced themselves for the inevitable swift water rescue calls. What they did not expect was for their own apparatus to fall victim to severe weather conditions.

The night of the storms, Local 2765 fire fighters had just finished one swift water rescue call and were on their way to another. “We were coming down a hill, when we noticed what looked like a small break in the road,” recalls Wade Marshall, president of Benton Local 2765. “It wasn’t until it was too late that we realized it was a 10-foot gap filled with rainwater.”

The fire truck nose-dived into the gap. Driver’s side rear passenger fire fighter Bryson Tittle opened his door and determined it looked safe for the crew to jump onto the road from there. But before they could escape, the truck began to spin counterclockwise and sink further into the hole.

Fortunately, Marshall was able to climb out of the window nearest him and pulled the driver, Russ Evans, out behind him. By the time Tittle was making his jump from the vehicle, the truck had sunk even farther. He landed on his chest and dangled from the ledge by his armpits until other fire fighters were able to grab him and pull him up.

Marshall radioed dispatch for help. “In my 12 years as a fire fighter, I have never experienced a bizarre close call like that,” he says. “It was like something out of the movies.”

Despite being shook up, the crew continued to make calls that night on a reserve engine. It wasn’t until day broke that a crane pulled the fire truck out of the gap. The truck has since been deemed totaled.