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| LRFD employees Phillip Prater and Casey Reep were the demolition derby drivers |
Russ Racop - May 25, 2021
On Thursday, May 20th, two Little Rock Fire Department apparatus (the work LRFD prefers to use for a fire truck) slammed into each other at the intersection of University and 28th Street.
Six firefighters were taken to the hospital with injuries that were not considered life-threatening.
A LRFD spokesman said the engines were responding to the same call on Broadmoor Drive that came in at 4:24 p.m., but he would not give any other information about the call.
According to a witness, one firefighter was trapped inside of one of the trucks for a few minutes. That firefighter was not identified.
Details of the accident are laid out in the accident report.
The city refused to provide the names of the two LRFD firemen driving the trucks, saying they were subjects of an investigation.
We did not let that slow us down. We went to straight to LRPD and obtained a copy of the accident report via an in-person Freedom of Information request and took photos of the report pursuant to Motal vs. City of Little Rock, 2020 Ark. App. 308.
The driver of the truck that struck the other was Phillip Prater.
LRFD firefighter Phillip Prater - Driver of truck 2 that ran into the other truck
Prater has a history of some disciplinary actions at LRFD. More on that in another post.
The driver of the other LRFD truck was Casey Reep. More about Reep in that upcoming post.
LRFD firefighter Casey Reep - Driver of truck 1
The accident report indicate that Prater appears to have gone through a red light and hit the truck Reep was driving.
A LRFD employee told use that it would cost from $600,000 to $700,000 to replace each truck.
At a recent city Board of Directors meeting LRFD Chief Delphone Hubbard told board members that his department needed to replace around six fire trucks.
It looks that the number of trucks needing replacement has gone up to eight.
