One hospitalized in fire truck crash

East Hampton (WTNH) - One firefighter was taken to the hospital after a fire truck crashed in East Hampton.

The fire truck crashed on Route 151 near Hog Hill Road.

The S-shaped skid marks and two telephone poles split in half show the path of this overturned fire truck. The driver, East Hampton Fire Captain Martin Swan, was still inside when rescue crews arrived.

"It looked like he had some head injuries just bumps and bruises nothing too extensive," said Sgt. Garritt Kelly, East Hampton Police.

Swan was returning from a call in Haddam Neck and was alone in the truck when it crashed along Route 151. He was taken to Hartford Hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Tony Flannery was brought in to tow the truck.

"This isn't the first, second, or third time we've seen this happen," Flannery said.

He's seen other big trucks like this lose control on this windy road in part because of the soft shoulders.

"What happens is the truck is so long that your turning radius that the back tires actually roll off the edge of the road and when they came off the edge of the road with dual tires it will continue that way and whether you want to or not it will take you into the gutter," Flannery explained.

Uprighting the truck was a dangerous task in itself. Seven hundred gallons of water had to be emptied out first otherwise that could have made the truck flip over again. Flannery calls it the slosh factor.

"What will happen is as it hits it will bounce and when the slosh then hits that side of the vehicle from the bounce it will then force the vehicle over again," he said.

After the truck was towed away, utility crews came in to restore power to the 16 homes along the road and replace the poles, which despite being snapped in half, managed to remain upright.