Texas: Trucker killed, Irving firefighters injured in wreck

A truck driver was killed and three Irving firefighters were injured early Sunday morning in a serious accident on Highway 183. Irving police spokesman Officer Steve Burres said the sequence of events began around 3:15 a.m. when officers responded to the crash of a pickup truck between Belt Line and Story roads. The driver, who was nabbed after attempting to flee the wreck, is suspected of driving while intoxicated.

A truck driver was killed and three Irving firefighters were injured in a crash early Sunday morning. Meanwhile, the Irving Fire Department sent a truck to help block the crash site until the wreckage could be towed.

"An 18-wheeler came along and struck the fire truck, spinning it around 180 degrees and causing it to roll over," Burres said in a written statement.

The big rig caught fire and its driver, identified as 55-year-old Ilian Lalev of Dallas, was killed. Investigators said preliminary evidence suggests that he "may have suffered some type of medical condition."

Two firefighters had been sitting on the front bumper of their truck and a third firefighter was standing in front of them at the time of the collision, said Assistant Fire Chief Rusty Wilson on Sunday.

"The two on the front bumper were thrown off toward the service road," Wilson said, who was at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas Sunday morning, where the injured personnel were taken for treatment. "The third firefighter doesn't remember much of what happened to him."

One suffered a concussion; the others had cuts and bruises. One of the firefighters was expected to remain hospitalized overnight.