Firefighter injured en-route to incident

Monday, Aug. 14, 2006

A veteran firefighter was injured Saturday afternoon when he fell from a moving fire engine en route to a blaze on Oglethorpe Street.

The accident happened at Queensbury Road and Baltimore Avenue on Riverdale Fire⁄EMS Engine 7.

The victim, whose name has not been released, is a 20-year veteran volunteer firefighter. Police said he his injuries to his upper body were not life-threatening. U.S. Park Eagle 1 flew him to an area trauma center.

Riverdale Volunteer Fire Chief Vince Harrison said an investigation into the exact cause of the accident is under investigation.

The incident to which Hyattsville area firefighters and EMS crews were responding was a brush fire outside of an apartment building. The fire was quickly extinguished.