A tragic accident has befallen a New York woman in the Bronx as she was crossing 1236 Intervale Ave. in Longwood. While responding to an incident, FDNY Fire Engine number 82 struck the unsuspecting pedestrian.
The unnamed woman was rushed to a local emergency room at St. Barnabas Hospital. However, despite the best efforts of medical teams, she lost her life. The incident occurred just before midnight on Friday.
According to a report by WPIX, sources say that the woman was crossing the road in an area with no crosswalk. At the time, the fire engine was responding to an emergency. The driver was a 34-year-old firefighter.
As of now, the NYPD says no charges have been brought. However, the incident is under investigation. No other information has been released concerning the tragic accident.
An Unfortunate Accident
The situation leaves little room for blame, with both parties simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The late hour, combined with the rush of the speeding fire engine, contributed to the unfortunate loss of life for the Bronx woman.
The 34-year-old driver will be investigated to determine if he was complying with the multitude of safety precautions in place surrounding driving a truck to an emergency. However, there is always risk of an incident when speeding a large truck through the streets of a city as highly populated as New York.
En-Route Emergency Danger
New York is a city of millions, and every day emergency services respond to a huge number of call-outs. The city is filled with the sounds of sirens as they rush to their destinations. This raises the chances of an en-route incident massively, and it’s the responsibility of emergency drivers and the public to keep their wits about them and keep their eye out for the lights.
This year alone, there have been several fatalities in the city involving emergency vehicles and pedestrians. Just this month, a woman was struck and killed by an NYPD patrol car that was responding to an incident. The car had lights and a siren activated, but the woman was unable to get out of the way. She was struck and killed while jogging in Columbus Circle in Manhattan.
High-speed vehicles in populated areas will always increase the risk of accidents such as this. However, it doesn’t take away from the struggle that both the driver of the fire engine and the woman’s family will have to deal with after such an unfortunate incident.