Palm Beach County Fire Rescue Leadership Does NOT Issue Statement Supporting Station 55 Crew.
BY: ANDREW COLTON | Editor and Publisher
BOCA RATON, FL (BocaNewsNow.com) (Copyright © 2021 MetroDesk Media, LLC) — Palm Beach County Fire Rescue is not answering questions posed Monday about the crash that led a fire truck to roll over at Powerline and Palmetto Park Road in Boca Raton Saturday afternoon.
The crash shut down much of the area for several hours. No one, according to a very short statement issued Saturday by Fire Rescue Capt. Pat Wehrle, was seriously injured. And there is no immediate indication that the fire truck driver did anything wrong.
But the silence from Palm Beach County Fire Rescue — which continues to spend time “tweeting” about graduations and area fires — is notable. Senior officials have not issued a statement in support of the Station 55 crew that was on-board the truck when it apparently was cut off by — or itself cut off — another vehicle. Station 55 is based on Palmetto Circle.
More than two days after the high impact crash, there is no official explanation about why it happened.
BocaNewsNow.com posed several questions to PBCFR spokeswoman Tara Cardoso Monday afternoon. The questions were not answered as of 5:40 p.m. We asked who was driving the fire truck. What that employee’s history is with Palm Beach County. Whether or not that driver has had previous accidents. What the employment status is of the driver at this time. And how Palm Beach County Fire Rescue investigates a crash involving a fire truck estimated to be worth $500,000.
The Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Department is continuing its own investigation and serves as the lead investigative agency. If a conflict is determined, Florida Department of Law Enforcement would likely take over the investigation.
Witnesses tell BocaNewsNow.com that a white pickup truck tried to avoid the fire truck, or the fire truck tried to avoid the white pickup truck — leading to the crash. The fire truck was heading to a call at the time of the crash.
“This is a crazy intersection,” said one of the many BocaNewsNow.com readers supplying photos of the scene.
It is unclear why Palm Beach County Fire Rescue, which daily promotes its firefighters and rescuers for lifesaving work, is saying nothing about this specific crash. The apparent lockdown started after a brief initial statement was issued an hour after the wreck.
We will update when and if Palm Beach County Fire Rescue shares specifics about the incident, Palm Beach County Fire Rescue leadership issues a statement in support of its crew, or when the Palm Beach County Sheriff’s Office releases its preliminary findings.
If you witnessed the crash, please share your observations with BocaNewsNow.com. Who was right? Who was wrong? What actually happened?
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