AMANDA CODISPOTI
The Roanoke Times
Reprinted with Permission

The Rocky Mount fire chief who was killed with a fellow firefighter in Monday's fire truck wreck tried to persuade the town council to install devices that change traffic lights to give emergency vehicles the right of way through intersections.


Chief Posey Dillon, 59, also Rocky Mount's vice mayor, several years ago proposed the so-called pre-emptive devices championed by fire safety groups to improve safety at intersections. The town council brushed aside the pitch because of the system's cost of about $100,000, Assistant Town Manager Matt Hankins said.

Dillon and firefighter William "Danny" Altice, 57, were killed on their way to a house fire when the town's 1989 Pierce fire engine, driven by Dillon, collided with an SUV at a busy intersection, flipped three times and landed on a car. The fire engine's emergency lights and siren were on, state police said, but the SUV driver had the green traffic light.

Pre-emptive devices mounted on traffic lights receive a signal from approaching emergency vehicles, giving the emergency vehicle the green light. They are widely used by localities including Roanoke and Bedford County.

"They are a help, but you cannot rely on them," said Rickey Hodge, a Virginia Association of Volunteer Rescue Squads emergency vehicle operator course instructor. "You still have to be paying attention."

State law says emergency vehicles can "proceed past any steady or flashing red light." Operators must use "due regard to the safety of persons and property," the law says, but it doesn't specify whether the vehicle must stop or slow.

State police said it is unclear how fast the fire truck was going and whether Dillon stopped or slowed as he traveled east on Old Franklin Turnpike and encountered a silver Ford Escape at School Board Road. The fire truck, equipped with a 1,000-gallon water tank, swerved to avoid the Escape, which smashed into the fire truck's driver's side, police said. Propelled by the water's shifting weight, the fire truck flipped, hitting a Mustang on its third roll.

Neither Dillon nor Altice was wearing a seat belt, police said.

The SUV driver, Terry Valentine, 41, of Rocky Mount was taken to the hospital with injuries that weren't life-threatening. Her condition was unavailable Tuesday. The Mustang driver, Carolyn Puckett, 47, of Bassett didn't appear hurt, police said.

Franklin County Commonwealth's Attorney Cliff Hapgood will review the police investigation to determine whether anyone should be charged, said Virginia State Police Sgt. Rob Carpentieri.

Old Franklin Turnpike's intersection with School Board Road, near U.S. 220, is busy, with a Sheetz convenience store, a Bojangles' fast food restaurant and an under-construction Walgreens drugstore all vying for space.

On Tuesday, a motorcade of two county ambulances and a public safety vehicle, with lights and sirens running, passed slowly through the intersection. Some drivers pulled to the right and stopped, as Virginia law requires. A few continued driving. Several seemed unsure which way to pull over.

Fire truck crashes were the second-leading cause of firefighter deaths, after heart attacks, accounting for 22 percent of fatalities from 1990 to 2000, according to a study by the U.S. Fire Administration. Most fatal crashes occurred at intersections.

In 2007, 25 firefighters were killed in crashes while riding to or from emergency calls, according to the National Fire Protection Association. Of those, 11 were not wearing seat belts.

The use of seat belts among firefighters has been an issue in the profession for years.

A government-funded 2006 study showed that about three-fourths of firefighters killed in crashes while riding to or from emergencies weren't wearing seat belts. Only about 58 percent of firefighters surveyed said they used seat belts "most of the time" or "always," the study found.

"We're somewhat at a loss as to why firefighters will not wear seat belts," said Victor Stagnaro, director of Fire Services Programs for the National Fallen Firefighter Foundation.

Dozens of fire safety organizations advocate seat belt use by encouraging firefighters to pledge to wear seat belts, Stagnaro said. Many fire departments incorporate seat belts into training and strictly enforce usage.

"There is nothing that prevents a firefighter from wearing a seat belt," said Matthew Tobia, a safety official for the International Association of Fire Chiefs.

Monday's firefighter fatalities were Franklin County's first involving a wreck in 24 years. In 1986, a Franklin County High School senior was helping to test-drive a fire truck when the truck went off the road and fell 110 feet into a ravine. Four other firefighters were injured.

In 1965, a firefighter died when he was thrown from a truck as it ran off Virginia 834 and rolled several times.

News researcher Belinda Harris, online producer Jordan Fifer and staff writer Janelle Rucker contributed to this report.