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Car crushes city firefighter against pole
Clothing belonging to a firefighter
Sidney L. Davis/Tribune-Review
The front bumper of a firetruck
Sidney L. Davis/Tribune-Review
David Conti can be reached via e-mail or at 412-320-7981.
Firefighter Margaret "Peggy" Vath, 48, of Morningside, a 14-year veteran assigned to Engine 11, remained hospitalized in guarded condition last night with a broken pelvis after the Honda Accord crushed her against a telephone pole.
"It was pretty crazy, from what I understand," said Dan Hennessy, a deputy fire chief. "We called in a different crew to handle that station because they were too shook up to continue working through the day."
The 83-year-old driver of the Honda, whom police did not identify, was taken to West Penn Hospital in Bloomfield after she complained of chest pains.
Police said she will be cited for failure to yield to an emergency vehicle. The investigation is continuing.
Engine 11 was headed south on Morewood Avenue from its station in Bloomfield to a fire alarm call about 11 a.m. According to firefighters and a half-dozen witness statements to police, the firetruck had a green light and its driver -- whom police did not identify -- had activated the lights and sirens as it entered the intersection with Bayard Street.
The Honda, traveling west on Bayard, struck the truck in the middle of the intersection, lodging its front right bumper into the front left bumper of the truck. Vath got out of the truck to see if the driver of the car was injured, police said.
As Vath stepped behind the Honda, though, the driver put her car in reverse. Vath, who was wearing a fire helmet and bunker gear, ended up draped over the trunk of the Honda as the driver sped backward into a telephone pole about 50 feet from the intersection, police said.
The driver told police she backed up in an attempt to get out of the way of the firetruck as quickly as possible.
The car's back end was heavily damaged after it struck the pole. Paramedics rushed Vath to UPMC Presbyterian, Oakland, in critical condition. Doctors upgraded her status to guarded later in the afternoon.
Vath's fellow firefighters from Engine 11 declined to comment.
There was no answer at Vath's home phone number.
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