The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

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January 17, 2009

Fire department truck plunges into creek

Two firefighters treated for minor injuries after accident

By Jackie Ayres

Two firefighters were treated for minor injuries after a fire truck slid on a patch of ice and landed submerged in a creek Saturday.

According to B.J. Okes, public relations officer for the Beaver Volunteer Fire Department, the two firefighters were conducting driver training in a brush truck around noon on Forest Road in Daniels when the driver hit an icy patch.

Okes said the fire truck toppled over the side of a bridge and landed in Beaver Creek, submerged in about 4 feet of water.

The two firefighters were able to crawl out of a windshield until emergency officials arrived on the scene. Both were transported for minor injuries and released, Okes said.

The fire truck was pulled out of the creek by a conventional wrecker.

An area resident says she’s complained several times about the lack of guardrails on the bridge and its approaches and hopes officials will do something to make it safer now.

“I wrote a letter to (Congressman Nick) Rahall’s office over it a while back and have complained numerous times to the state (Division of Highways),” Alice Lewis said.

Lewis says the road is extremely dangerous during inclement weather, and if a vehicle begins to slide, “there’s nowhere you can go except in the creek. And that’s exactly what happened here today. It’s a wonder someone hasn’t gotten killed out here by now.”

“They’ve been trying for the past few years to get guardrails put up near that creek. It’s my understanding that they’re in the process of it now,” Okes said.

— E-mail: jayres@register-herald.com

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