PS fire truck rolls over

Sat, May 17 2008

— A Payne Springs fire truck rolled over and came to rest on its side less than a mile south of the station Tuesday morning.
The tanker was driven by Chris Reed, who was trying to go around motorists who were not yielding the right of way fast enough.
In doing so, his tires caught the soft muddy grass just off the highway. Reed said he thought he could make the correction, but the tire tracks continued to widen and eventually the truck, carrying a full load of water did a 360 degree rollover, and then came to rest on its side.
The wreck was so slow in the soft glass, that no glass was broken, and even the emergency lights were undamaged. Most of the damaged sustained by the one-year-old tanker, was to the right side of its tank.
Reed said as he came around the curve about one half mile south of the Payne Springs Fire Department, the truck began its slide. “I was probably going less than 25 miles-per-hour at the time,” he said. “It was like a slow-motion rollover.”
Reed has been a member of the Payne Springs Volunteer Fire Department for about a year, described the incident as a “slow motion” rollover.”
Reed was following another tanker, which was in the process of turning around to go north to a fire at the Countryside Store on State Highway 198, just south of Gun Barrel City.
Firefighters quickly extinguished the flames in the back of the store, according to volunteer firefighters from both Payne Springs and Gun Barrel City.
The investigation is continuing.

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