South Carolina Chief Says Seat Belt Saved Firefighter's Life

COLLETON COUNTY, S.C. -- His fire truck flipped and rolled with him inside, but tonight, a Colleton County firefighter is expected to go home from MUSC in good condition.

27-year-old Michael Juhasz was the victim of an accident involving his own fire truck on Old Jacksonboro Road, as he was headed to fight a woods fire in Cottageville.

Mud and tire marks mark the spot where the Highway Patrol says Juhasz lost control of the fire truck and ended up flipping over on the left hand side of the road.

"He did have on a seat belt, which we're crediting with saving his life. It kept him in the truck as it rolled," said Colleton County Fire Rescue Chief Barry McRoy.

McRoy says Juhasz had to be cut out of the fire truck and flown to MUSC. No one else was injured and no other cars were involved. McRoy says this kind of thing rarely happens within his own department.

"Typically, we respond to help the public. It's kind of strange to arrive on scene and have to extricate one of our own people," added McRoy.

McRoy says Juhasz is a lucky man after seeing the mangled remains of the truck, and he says Juhasz hasn't been in any other accidents since he started working at the department a year and a half ago.

"We train them to drive the trucks. They're big and heavy. They do have water on them which shifts around a little bit," added McRoy.

Training that couldn't fully prepare him for an accident he couldn't predict.

The Highway Patrol says the accident is still under investigation. Chief McRoy says the fire truck should be replaced within the next year, and one of their reserve fire trucks is being used in the mean time.

Copyright 2008 by WCSC, Inc. All rights reserved.

Republished with permission of WCSC-TV.

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