Terrible Tractor July 4th Parade accident in Maine

There ought to be a law. Parades can only be held on flat ground. That way if fire truck guy loses his brakes, no big deal. Get Bloomberg working on this today.

The route they should have taken was flat but because of the shooter in town they diverted the parade,, "From what was on the local new station"

Re using low gear, I wish I knew more about the truck and its brake system, but from one account I read the 1930 Fire Truck had stalled. Perhaps it was bad shifting that stalled the engine, or an electrical problem when braking that caused it to stall. In any event, if the engine wasn't running there wouldn't be power going to the booster when the driver was applying the brakes, thus rending the truck unable to stop going down the incline.

Katahdin said:

Re using low gear, I wish I knew more about the truck and its brake system, but from one account I read the 1930 Fire Truck had stalled. Perhaps it was bad shifting that stalled the engine, or an electrical problem when braking that caused it to stall. In any event, if the engine wasn't running there wouldn't be power going to the booster when the driver was applying the brakes, thus rending the truck unable to stop going down the incline.

Click to expand...

It would still hold back if the engine had stalled. I am not sure if a old truck like that would have power brakes. I am just guessing he was in neutral and something happened to the brakes and he could not get it in gear and it ran off. Luckily it was just 1 person on a tractor in front of him and not a marching band.

More info would be necessary to figure out what happened. Some of the ancient fire trucks are truly monsters, but that one doesn't look that big.

What kind of brakes did it have? Hydraulic? Air? Emergency Brake?

Anyway, for a modern vehicle with vacuum assist brakes, loose the vacuum boost, and the brakes still work, they just need a bit more pressure. And, usually one has enough braking to apply the brakes once before one looses all vacuum assist (including using constant pressure braking).

For air brakes, loose air pressure, and the brakes apply automatically.

Still, I would think the truck should have had some kind of an emergency brake, probably an hand operated lever.

And, as mentioned by others, if it was in 1st gear and the engine stopped, let out the clutch, and the engine should have had enough braking power to stop the truck.

The article mentioned a young driver... And, if the truck gets driven a couple of times a year, the driver likely wasn't familiar with the truck. Stick Shift, non Synchro Gears, different emergency brake design, etc.

Actually, if he had the truck rolling in neutral, then with a non-synchro tranny, it could be nearly impossible to throw it in gear with the engine stopped and use engine braking.

Terrible accident......tragic that someone died. Many years ago.....attended a parade in Calif. Somebody in the crowd lit a firecracker.....a horse with rider spooked....ran into crowd and tragically killed a mother protecting her daughter. Unfortunately.....you cannot prevent every accident......you can't stop living or stop having parades because something might happen. Thoughts and prayers for the person who died and the community......

Firefighter driving antique truck that killed man during parade placed on leave — Bangor — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine
Here's the followup...

Update: Cause of the accident was determined to be low brake fluid levels and moisture in the brake fluid that contributed to a total loss of brake pressure at the master cylinder:

Report: Antique firetruck had insufficient brake fluid, leading to fatal July Fourth parade collision — Bangor — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine

Thanks for the followup.

This inspection and testing of the fire truck concluded that there was a total loss of pressure at the master cylinder of the hydraulic braking system due to insufficient amount of brake fluid and poor quality brake fluid which introduced air into the brake system, the report states.
...
Unless responsible for the vehicle's maintenance, and solely as an operator of the firetruck, Patrick Heathcote could not have prevented this crash from occurring, states the report, which includes reports from the Maine State Police crash analysis unit and local detectives.
...
Heathcote, who had his two daughters as passengers, told investigators that the brake pedal went to the floorboard, and several witnesses said they saw the firefighter ''standing on the brakes'' trying to get the 6-ton truck to stop.

Click to expand...

I have to wonder if the accident was the first time the driver noted issues with the brakes.

No doubt there would be a lot of pressure to get the truck on the road on parade day, but I would ask if the brakes felt odd before the parade, then they should have been fixed, or the parade should have been aborted.

Should he have been pumping the brakes rather than ''standing on them''?

I've lost brake hydraulic pressure before... (never ran into anything). It is a bad feeling, but once the brake pedal hits the floor, there is instantly a 100% loss of braking which is easy to feel, at which point standing on them won't do a thing, either one must pump the brakes, or look for an alternative such as the hand brakes.

Is there a leak in the braking system? Perhaps one could compensate with refilling the brakes every time one starts the truck up, and only occasionally using the vehicle, but it really should be repaired right.

I guess my point is that whether the driver was responsible for the maintenance, he still has the ultimate responsibility to determine whether or not the vehicle is safe to drive on parade day among other vehicles, and along streets lined with thousands of onlookers.

Had they driven the old truck behind the new truck, then the likely outcome would just have been smashing the two trucks together. A backward rolling event would still have been possible, but perhaps less likely than a forward rolling event.

CliffordK said:

Thanks for the followup.
I have to wonder if the accident was the first time the driver noted issues with the brakes.
No doubt there would be a lot of pressure to get the truck on the road on parade day, but I would ask if the brakes felt odd before the parade, then they should have been fixed, or the parade should have been aborted.
Should he have been pumping the brakes rather than ''standing on them''?
I've lost brake hydraulic pressure before... (never ran into anything). It is a bad feeling, but once the brake pedal hits the floor, there is instantly a 100% loss of braking which is easy to feel, at which point standing on them won't do a thing, either one must pump the brakes, or look for an alternative such as the hand brakes.

Click to expand...

Per the accident report, there was enough fluid to handle normal braking, but with the amount of water in the fluid, the previous stops heating up the fluid and the steep hill, there wasn't enough fluid to keep the "drain" port in the brake fluid tank covered. When he pumped the brakes, it pushed air into the lines and that was all she wrote.

Aaron Z