Box truck hits North Seattle home – Fire Line

SEATTLE – On Nov. 7 just after 10:30 a.m., Seattle firefighters responded to N. 85th St. and Wallingford Ave. N. for a box truck carrying flooring material that ran into a home, causing extensive damage. Engine 16 arrived first on scene and learned from the passenger of the box truck (who had escaped the vehicle on his own), that the driver of the box truck was still trapped. Engine and ladder companies and Rescue 1 worked simultaneously to extricate the driver by cutting the vehicle to get him out, and to put shoring in place for temporary stabilization of the structure. The owners of the residence were luckily not home at the time the incident occurred. Both the truck driver and passenger sustained injuries, however, only the driver required transport by paramedics to the hospital (stable condition).

The Seattle Police Department responded to the scene to investigate the cause of the collision, and the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspections was requested to further evaluate the structure. These are low frequency but high risk events. Because of extensive training, responding crews were able to efficiently jump into action to put a plan in place for mitigating the incident.