A dozen firefighters were injured last night, five seriously – including the first woman in the department’s history to join an elite rescue squad – when a pair of Manhattan fire trucks collided, officials said.
One of the engines was shooting down Seventh Avenue at 6:30 p.m. when it smashed into the other, which was headed east on West 10th Street in Greenwich Village.
Both were speeding to a call that later proved to be a false alarm, sources said.
“The truck [from Squad 18] that hit the pole caught on fire and they pulled out one firefighter who looked pretty banged up,” said a bystander who declined to give his name.
“When I looked outside all I saw was black smoke,” said witness Levi Abugu, 36, who manages Gourmet Garage at the intersection.
The companies, Ladder 12 and Squad 18, were both responding to a call on Grove Street in the West Village when they collided.
Sources said the drivers saw each and tried to swerve out of the way, but they were too late.
“When the truck hit the pole, the building shook. Glass broke off the shelves,” Abugu said.
Five of the firefighters were taken to St. Vincent’s Hospital and seven to Bellevue.
Sources identified the most seriously injured as Lt. Adrienne Walsh of Squad 18.
Walsh was the first woman to join one of the FDNY’s elite rescue squads and one of only 32 women in the 11,000 member FDNY as of 2005.
The extent or nature of the 11-year veteran’s injuries was not immediately known, but one source said that she was the “most banged-up” of the hurt smoke-eaters.
Walsh, who served as a Coast Guard reservist, was at Ground Zero on 9/11 when the first World Trade Center tower collapsed.
Seven years after joining the department in 1997, Walsh joined Rescue 4 in Queens. The next year, she became the first woman to be promoted to lieutenant in a rescue squad.
It was not immediately clear which of the trucks had the light at the time of the crash.
No civilians were hurt in the accident.