Five Kutztown firefighters were injured when they crashed their fire truck on Interstate 78 Tuesday afternoon.According to the Pennsylvania State Police at Hamburg, the crash occurred on Interstate 78 Eastbound near mile marker 33.6 around 1:10pm.
According to troopers, the crash occurred in Windsor Township when a 2004 Spartan Motors Pumper (Engine Tanker 46 of the Kutztown Fire Department) sustained a "catastrophic" passenger steer tire failure. The driver, Brian Fey, 49, of Lenhartsville, lost control of steering as a result, traveled off the roadway into a ditch overturning the fire truck on it's passenger side.
Minor injuries were reported by Fey and 4 other passengers, Joshua Young, 27, of Fleetwood, Eric Trubilla, 45, of Kutztown, Kyle Fritz, 30, of Kutztown, and Benjamin Hoffman, 27, of Kutztown.
All were members of Kutztown Fire Department.
All five were transported to an area hospital by Hamburg EMS for evaluation and were said to have suffered minor injuries. All were reported to be wearing seatbelts at the time of the crash.
Kutztown Fire and Hamburg Fire assisted at the scene of the crash. Schuylkill Haven's Schuylkill Hose #2 had been called to Hamburg on a move up assignment while Hamburg was at the crash.
The cause of the failure is under investigation, driver was said not to have played a role in the crash.
The right lane of Eastbound Interstate 78 was closed in the area of the crash for approximately 2.5 hours.