IMPERIAL, MO (KMOX)-- By now, many in the St. Louis-area saw those viral videos of the firetruck spinning around down a hill in a neighborhood in Jefferson County like a Beyblade.
Kevin Steinmeyer was the firefighter behind the wheel Monday, Jan. 22 when his Rock Community firetruck hit ice and spun around in the Parkside Place neighborhood.
"It was a little crazy," said Steinmeyer. "I was more nervous than anything…worried about keeping my guys safe on the truck and not hurting anybody in the neighborhood."
The day started when his truck was called to the area after a vehicle struck a fire hydrant. It also took out a electrical box in the front yard.
"(The neighborhood) was down behind our engine house and all the roads going to it were not in bad shape," said Steinmeyer, "Then we turned into the subdivision and road was a little, little slick, kind of got a little squirrely."
Steinmeyer explains when the truck starting spinning, his first instinct was to try and steer the struck into the grass to avoid causing significant damage.
"As we were going down the larger hill, we just kept picking up speed. So I was scared thinking that I was gonna run through a house or take out anybody standing there because we could see people standing down by the driveway," said Steinmeyer.
Steinmeyer explains that in order to avoid causing significant damage, he tried to get the truck to hit a tree that was in the front of one of the houses to avoid causing significant damage.
"My biggest concern was killing somebody in their house because with that much weight going, it wasn't gonna stop on its own very fast," explains Steinmeyer. "So I figured if we were gonna take any damage, I would rather have us take the damage than cause it to anybody else."
Luckily for everyone involved, there were no serious injuries from the moment and the only damage came when the truck touched a car in the driveway while it was spinning, along with running over a mailbox.
After the spin, Steinmeyer and his fellow crew members worked to clean up the mess, from throwing out all the ice melt they had on the truck to melt as much ice as they could. Along that they also helped a resident clean up his yard.
"We ended up having to reload all the hose on the truck because at the end of the video, I know if it shows the hose being thrown off the back of the truck and then cleaned up all the trash cans." said Steinmeyer. "We ran over the mailbox and part of the tree in the front yard got ripped down. So we cut that up for the gentleman that lived there and haul it around the back of his house."
Steinmeyer told KMOX the truck is currently in the mechanics building, just sitting there. But there was some consideration to keep using it for the day.
"It was my philosophy was, and so was my captain's is if we have another accident, I don't want to wreck another truck, we'd rather just stay in that one," said Steinmeyer. "But they said 'no, no, no, we need to make sure it's all good.' So we understood. And so we switched trucks and went back in service."
