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SUNLAND, LOS ANGELES () — New video is giving investigators a clearer view of what happened moments before a Los Angeles Fire Department engine swerved, hit a parked car and rolled into an H&R Block office in Sunland on Tuesday night.
A new angle captured by a Tesla camera at a nearby intersection shows a ladder truck from Fire Station 74 narrowly maneuvering through traffic. As it passes, a white SUV on the right begins to move forward, reducing the space available for the second fire engine following behind.
The video shows that second engine attempting to squeeze through the gap before veering out of control, striking a parked vehicle and overturning into the building.
“Technically, by law, you’re supposed to be 300 feet behind them (emergency vehicles) after they pass by you, but we all see it, people merge right away to get back into the flow of traffic,” law enforcement expert Bruce Thomas said.
The crash occurred around 6:45 p.m. on the 8200 block of Foothill Boulevard.
The two engines were responding to a structure fire in Sun Valley. Under normal circumstances, crews from Fire Station 77 – located about a mile and a half from the reported fire – would have responded, but that station’s ladder truck was already out on another call.
Station 74’s trucks, more than six miles away, were dispatched instead. The crash happened just over half a mile from their station.
The fire department has not released the engine’s speed at the time of the crash. The posted speed limit on Foothill Boulevard is 35 mph. Fire engines can weigh up to 60,000 pounds.
Only two firefighters were aboard the overturned engine, and both have been released from the hospital. No civilians were injured.
The parked car that was crushed was empty, and the H&R Block office was closed at the time. The building has since been yellowtagged as unsafe.
“Unfortunately, drivers are in their own little world… They don’t really see or hear the lights and or siren until it’s possibly right upon them,” Thomas said.
The investigation into the cause of the crash is ongoing.
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