Published: Saturday, March 03, 2007

Four Windsor firefighters were hospitalized Friday, one in critical condition and three others stable after their firetruck flipped on its side in a crash that shut down the Ambassador Bridge's main entrance and clogged traffic for miles.

George Copeland, 46, a 14-year-veteran, is in critical condition. He had surgery Friday night.

The other injured are: Capt. Bill Hopkins, 56, who has 32 years of experience, 10-year veteran James Waffle, 33 and Randy DiCocco, 35, on the job four years.

They were on their way to a medical call when the crash occurred.

"This is a serious accident, a serious accident that has happened," said Mayor Eddie Francis.

"When it does happen, it shakes us all. But we're comforted in the fact we're all here to support the men and women of Windsor Fire Rescue and the families of these four firefighters."

"As I arrived at the hospital, I was informed they were all talking," he said.

The firetruck crashed moments after leaving Fire Station 4 on College Street at 3:40 p.m., headed to a call at Wyandotte Street and Partington Avenue.

Officials didn't reveal the cause of accident or how fast the truck was travelling. They also wouldn't say who was driving.
"Right now, accident reconstruction has to do what accident reconstruction has to do," Francis said.
According to Environment Canada meteorologist Karen Kilcup, it was windy and wet at the time of the accident with wind gusts up to 60 km/h.

The pumper truck had jumped the curb and leaned against a fence at an awkward angle toward its battered right side, facing south toward Huron Church, about two metres from the blue Bridge to USA sign.

A team of firefighters rushed to prop up the truck and keep it steady as others struggled to pull their injured comrades from the crippled wreckage. Stretchers were set up at the mouth of the bridge entrance waiting for them.

About five ambulances, four large fire trucks, several police and EMS vehicles and dozens of personnel crowded the scene.
University of Windsor Campus police and Canadian Border Services officers also helped out.

The truck's windshield was punched out and a piece of the roof was crushed in. Part of the truck's rear end appeared to be sheared off, and hoses spilled out the back like tangled spaghetti.

RUSHED TO HOTEL-DIEU

Rubber boots, oxygen tanks and other firefighter gear littered the scene, along with hunks of twisted metal and glass. Foaming water cascaded over the road.

After they were extricated, the injured firefighters were rushed to Hotel-Dieu Grace Hospital, where their families and other firefighters were gathering.

Windsor Police Service Staff Sgt. Paul Bridgeman, who was called at home and told to report, said the collision reconstruction team would be on scene more than six hours piecing together the tragedy.

After arriving, he said it was instantly evident serious injuries were involved.

Investigators worked until well after sundown taking measurements and dozens of photographs from every angle around the crumpled hulk of the truck.

Bridgeman would not speculate whether another vehicle had been involved or if the fire engine had been cut off.

He said 10 uniformed officers were required to reroute bridge-bound traffic around the scene.

Traffic on Huron Church Road, tied up as far back as Malden Road, crawled northward only to be redirected east on College Avenue.

Two officers directing traffic at California barked orders to drivers headed for the border to "keep moving, to the tunnel."
Traffic coming into Canada, meanwhile, was flowing relatively smoothly.

Traffic on Wyandotte Street also slowed to a snail's pace as police blocked cross roads and routed the big trucks to that street's bridge's entrance.

Over at the hospital, the first ambulance arrived at 4:07 p.m., escorted by a Windsor police cruiser.

A motionless firefighter was removed from the ambulance strapped to a stretcher. The second ambulance came screaming south on Goyeau Street at 4:11 p.m. escorted by two police SUVs, one ahead and another behind. Other police vehicles blocked traffic at the cross-streets and waved drivers out of the away.

A third ambulance arrived at 4:13 p.m., followed by another, which was empty. A fifth ambulance arrived at 4:16 p.m. carrying the fourth firefighter.

Inside the hospital, people in the waiting area were warned they'd be required to wait up to six hours because of the emergency accident.

Francis, accompanied by the city CAO John Skorobohacz, pulled up at the hospital's parking lot at 4:20 p.m. Their arrival was soon followed by parents of one of the victims, who were dropped off by fire personnel. Ward 2 Coun. Ron Jones, himself a former firefighter, arrived at 4:41 p.m. along with another man. Fire prevention officer Lee Tome soon followed. A woman and a girl were dropped off by the fire department at 4:56 p.m.

The steady stream of people was capped by the 5:05 p.m. arrival of a red fire rescue truck. It remained with lights flashing as four men dressed in blue uniforms exited the vehicle and were met with embraces by paramedics standing near the emergency entrance.

© The Windsor Star 2007