![\"\"](\"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2024\/07\/SCFire.png\")
TYLER — Two Smith County firefighters have been hit by cars while working traffic calls all within the span of a month. Officials weigh in on the importance of slowing down and moving over. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Reminding motorists to watch their speed, do all you can to pay attention, put your phones away,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Jeff Williford, TxDOT Tyler District public information officer, said.<\/p>\n
According to our news partner KETK, Sunday on FM 850 east of Tyler a firefighter was working the scene of a wreck when a vehicle hit them and took off. The firefighter has since been released from the hospital and authorities are still searching for the person responsible.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Basically struck one of our firefighters, he was able to jump out of the way so it was a very close call,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Doug Stricklin, Smith County ESD2 assistant chief of operations, said. Stricklin shared that this is the second time someone from their crew has been hit by a car within a month. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Both of these instances were just a matter of inches of serious injuries, possibly even death on the road,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Stricklin said.<\/p>\n
Officials are looking for the driver who was involved in the hit-and-run on Sunday.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Drove past the other apparatus and didn\u00e2\u20ac\u2122t stop to see if the firefighter was okay, just fled the scene of the incident. Late \u00e2\u20ac\u212290s dark colored GMC step-side pickup, shattered windshield in front of the driver and there\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s possibly a dent in driver\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s side door also,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Stricklin said.<\/p>\n
TxDOT is reminding people about the move-over, slow-down law.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Anytime there are utility workers, first responders, EMS workers, on the side of the road it is very important to move over and slow down if you\u00e2\u20ac\u2122re unable to, it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s required to reduce your speed by at least 20 miles per hour,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Williford said.<\/p>\n
Flashing lights and cones are out for a reason, remember to slow down when these indicators are on the road.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153Almost 100% of the time there will be cones out there will be signs out well in advance of the work zone,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Williford said.<\/p>\n
Proceed with caution as crews are out working on roadways.<\/p>\n
\u00e2\u20ac\u0153We have people that want to get home to their families, EMS workers and first responders want to get home to their families, so it\u00e2\u20ac\u2122s very important to remember that,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Williford said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
TYLER — Two Smith County firefighters have been hit by cars while working traffic calls all within the span of a month. Officials weigh in on the importance of slowing down and moving over. \u00e2\u20ac\u0153Reminding motorists to watch their speed, do all you can to pay attention, put your phones away,\u00e2\u20ac\u009d Jeff Williford, TxDOT Tyler … Continue reading Officials talk safety after firefighter hit by car<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":61,"featured_media":1341178,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2024\/07\/SCFire.png","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[177],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1341176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news-archive-archives"],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-06-07 15:59:35","action":"change-status","newStatus":"trash","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/wp-content\/media\/2024\/07\/SCFire.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341176","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/61"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1341176"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341176\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1341180,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1341176\/revisions\/1341180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1341178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1341176"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1341176"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/ktbb.com\/post\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1341176"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}