By Ivan Pereira
As it was trying to break to the loud sound of sirens, the mail truck traveling westbound on North Conduit Avenue slammed into the FDNY truck as it raced northbound on 225th Street to a fire, according to police and eyewitnesses. The postal truck, which had the green light, according to police, hit the rear of the firetruck and sent it spinning it into the backyard of a nearby house.
“It was bad. The whole front of the truck was smashed and the firefighters all came out of theirs. They looked really hurt,” said eyewitness Wallace McDonald of Laurelton.
A yellow taxicab minivan riding behind the tractor trailer also slammed into the rear of the mail truck. The driver of the mail truck, described by police as a 45-year-old man, along with five firefighters were rushed to Jamaica Hospital for treatment while the cab driver was taken to Mary Immaculate Hospital, police said.
The firefighters, who worked out of Engine Company 311 in Springfield Gardens, had serious but non-life threatening injuries and the cab driver had minor injuries, according to a FDNY battalion chief. A woman living inside the house that the firetruck crashed into was unharmed.
Reach reporter Ivan Pereira by e-mail at ipereira@timesledger.com or by phone at 718-229-0300, Ext. 146.
