Virginia: Alpha fire engine damaged in I-99 accident

An Alpha Fire Company truck was struck by another vehicle Sunday on Interstate 99 northbound, though no firefighters were injured.

Engine 514 was responding to another crash near mile marker 69, according to the fire company’s Twitter page. Pictures on the Alpha Facebook page showed damage to the rear of the truck.

Alpha’s Twitter feed reported that there were several crashes on I-99 between the Port Matilda and Grays Woods exits.

Alpha urged drivers to use caution on the roads. “Slow down in fog,” Alpha posted on Twitter. “Someone just crashed into Engine 514 ... There are injuries.”

Alpha Fire Chief Jeff Martin said that the two adults in the vehicle that struck the fire truck were injured and transported to Mount Nittany Medical Center, and later to the trauma center at UPMC Altoona. A 3-year-old child was also in the vehicle. Martin said he did not know their conditions.

According to Martin, the driver in the initial crash sustained minor injuries.

The roads, according to Alpha, were icy, making driving more difficult with impaired vision due to fog.

“Ice and fog were exactly what happened,” Martin said. “When the apparatus I was in approached the accident, it took us everything to even see it and we were looking for it.”

“The individuals in the second accident were coming across a very icy bridge, lost control and hit the back of the engine,” he said. Traffic was disrupted for about two hours around the accident, it was cleared at about 10:10 a.m., according to 511PA State College