IMPERIAL, Mo. – A Missouri firefighter who was at the wheel of a fire truck that was captured in a viral video careening out of control on an ice-glazed road recounted his harrowing tale to FOX Weather Friday, saying he’s relieved no one was injured.
Four firefighters with Imperial’s Rock Community Fire Protection District were onboard the fire truck that was responding to a car that had just slid into a fire hydrant in the wake of an ice storm on Jan. 22.
But as the truck approached the scene, it too began to slide on the ice-covered roads, spinning around in a full circle on the small road surrounded by homes.
For firefighter Kevin Steinmeyer, who was driving the engine, one thing remained on his mind as he maneuvered the gargantuan truck in the tight space.
“My biggest thought process was, ‘Try not to get anybody hurt. Try not to hurt anybody on my truck or in the neighborhood,’” he told FOX Weather on Friday. “Everybody was home with it being a snow day. They canceled school, so I just didn’t want to wreck through a house and hurt a family or anything.”
DRIVING ON THE ICE AND DRIVING IN THE SNOW
But inside the fire truck, Steinmeyer said, the crew remained quiet as he focused on maneuvering the fire truck. They noted that Steinmeyer himself was calm and quiet during the tense situation.
After the truck spun on the road, Steinmeyer said it “bounced” off of the blue car they were initially going to assist, and then he was able to gently stop the truck in a driveway.
“That was a lot of luck, I think,” he said. “All that touched (the house) was the front passenger side tire, so we didn’t touch any of the rest of the house with any part of the truck other than the tire. So there was no damage to the truck or to the house from it.”
Steinmeyer noted that the woman who had driven the blue car was not in the vehicle. Rather, she was safe on the front porch of a nearby house, where others were filming the incident unfold.
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As the harrowing video made the rounds on the internet, Steinmeyer said he’d taken his share of good-natured ribbing from his crewmates and other fire departments.
“(The video) has been out all over the place,” he said. “It’s, I mean, there’s been tons of different fire department websites and, I’ve gotten all kinds of memes sent to me with different audio to it and songs and parodies.”
But he said most of all, he’s just happy everybody came out safe.
“It’s just a blessing that we were all able to walk away, and we didn’t hurt anybody in the process,” he said.
Original article source: Missouri fire truck driver who spun out on icy road seen in viral video: ‘Happy everyone came out safe’
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