By Carli Teproff
The Miami Herald
MIAMI — The fire truck was rushing to a blaze. The paramedic truck was heading to the hospital.
Then the two red emergency vehicles, lights flashing and sirens blaring, crossed paths near Miami’s hospital district. Neither stopped for the other, and the resulting collision injured 12 people.
Among the injured: seven Miami firefighters, two children and their grandmother, and two people in a car clipped by the spinning wreckage.
Other firefighters rushed to the scene to tend to their own, along with the civilians.
The injuries are not life-threatening. But the vehicles looked like they went through a movie stunt scene.
The force of the crash was so strong that the fire truck spun 360 degrees, hit a curb and flipped on its side, said Miami Assistant Fire Chief Pete Gomez
The rescue truck’s front was sheared off, its windshield bashed in.
“When you have a 40,000-pound truck flip on its side, and no one is seriously hurt, I’d say that’s a pretty lucky day,” Gomez said.
Four firefighters were on the fire engine and three firefighters were in the rescue truck, along with the grandmother and two children. Two people in another car were also injured.
All 12 were listed in stable condition.
The crash happened near the Jackson Memorial Hospital complex, as both vehicles, Rescue No. 25 and Engine No. 5 were rushing on separate calls.
The paramedic truck was transporting the two children and their grandmother to the University of Miami Hospital across from Jackson.
When the fire truck was struck and spun, it hit an orange Pontiac G6 with at least two people inside, smashing the hood.
Miami police are investigating the cause of the crash and the drivers.
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