DELRAY BEACH, Fla. — Four members of the Delray Beach Fire Rescue Department have been placed on administrative leave while an investigation is conducted into the Dec. 28, 2024, incident that saw one of the department’s ladder trucks hit by a Brightline train.
Also, the department said today (Jan. 3, 2025) that the three firefighters injured in that incident have been released from the hospital. No further information on their condition will be released in compliance with federal law regarding the privacy of medical information.
Twelve people on board the train were also injured when the train hit the truck as it crossed a grade crossing on First Street in downtown Delray Beach, splitting the truck into two pieces and badly damaging the train’s lead locomotive [see “Fifteen injured in collision …,” Trains News Wire, Dec. 29, 2024]. Onboard video released by Brightline indicates the fire engine drove around lowered crossing gates at the time it was hit.
In a post on the department’s Facebook page, Fire Chief Ronald Martin said Assistant Chief Kevin Green, Division Chief Todd Lynch, Captain Brian Fiorey, and Driver Engineer David Wyatt have been placed on leave with pay “pending the results of an internal administrative investigation to determine if City and Fire Rescue policies and procedures were followed.” Martin said the action is “consistent with city policy and a procedural step as we review the facts.”
“I remain fully committed to learning from this incident, strengthening our procedures, and ensuring our firefighters have the training and resources needed to protect Delray Beach safely and effectively,” Martin wrote in the Facebook post. “This is the time to examine where we might have fallen short in the past and make the tough decisions needed to ensure we don’t continue to do so.”
“This is the time to examine where we might have fallen short in the past and make the tough decisions needed to ensure we don’t continue to do so.”
How tough can it be to heed crossing gates?
“Mistakes may have been made and we’ll try not to make the same mistakes again, but it’s going to be tough.”
I hope Brightline has an extra loco to continue regular schedules. What happened to the engineer? Was there just one? Crash resistance on that loco appears to be phenomenal. A fire engine is a heavy, stiff object.