BUTLER, Ky. — A firefighter in Pendleton County was flown to University of Cincinnati Medical Center via AirCare after the fire truck he was in crashed, according to officials at the scene.
The truck appeared to have rolled off a small bridge and into a creek near KY-177 and KY-3185.
Kentucky State Police said the firefighter, identified as a 29-year-old volunteer firefighter with the Northern Pendleton Fire District, was responding to a call when he was unable to navigate a left turn onto westbound KY-177.
"He was able to get on the radio and let everyone know he was in this collision behind us and obviously everybody started to respond at that point,” Sgt. Bernis Napier said.
Napier said the firefighter contacted dispatch and told them he was in "bad shape" after the crash.
No one else was in the fire truck with him when the crash happened.
Napier said the firefighter was trapped inside the crashed fire truck for nearly 30 minutes. He contacted dispatch to alert them to the crash at around 7:41 a.m.; KSP said he was finally extracted from the truck at around 8:11 a.m.
According to the Pendleton County Emergency Management Public Information Officer, the firefighter has some broken bones but is expected to recover fully.
Officials at the scene said it appeared the brakes on the fire truck went out at some point while the driver was on a hill.
“It happens all the time, I mean that hill is dangerous,” said Paula Smith, who lives in the area.
Smith lives right next to where the crash happened. She’s lived there for 15 years and says accidents happen too often.
"There for a while it was like, at least once a year, sometimes more, someone would go over that,” Smith said.
She said she feels it is too dangerous.
"There's too many lives getting taken down there,” Smith said.
It took crews roughly five hours to recover the truck from the creek. Kentucky State Police say they continue to investigate what happened.
Watch Live:
