CABARRUS COUNTY – A Georgeville volunteer firefighter was not hurt after the fire truck he was driving suddenly flipped on its side.
By the time his fellow firefighters got to the truck, Kelly Whitley had already managed to pull himself out through a window.
“Thank the Lord, he spared my life,” Whitley said.
Whitley is a 35-year-veteran of the department and was driving by himself to a medical call around 8 a.m. Friday on Highway 200. He was less than a mile from the fire station when he said something in the road caused him to lose control.
“No speeding. Something happened, and it just all of a sudden veered to the right,” Whitley said.
Right after crashing, the 51-year-old father said his immediate concern was getting help to whoever called 911.
“The first thing I said on the radio is, ‘I’ve been involved in an accident, dispatch another department for the call,’” Whitley said.
The 3-year-old truck is routinely used for medical emergencies, and costs about $400,000.
The department said it still has two other trucks it can use, but is concerned with how long the third truck will be out of service.
“If it’s totaled, it’ll probably be six to eight months until we can get a new truck built,” Georgeville Fire Chief Brian Smith said.