Clearwater fire truck accident jams Gulf-to-Bay traffic

CLEARWATER — Westbound traffic was jammed Wednesday morning on Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard after a Clearwater Fire Rescue truck inexplicably drifted out of a parking lot and collided with a delivery truck.

Clearwater police spokeswoman Elizabeth Watts said there were no serious injuries, though the driver of the delivery truck was taken to the hospital as a precaution.

According to Watts, the fire truck was resting in a parking lot on the block of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard just east of Hercules Avenue about 10 a.m. The driver had his foot on the brake and the vehicle was not in reverse, Watts said, but it drifted backward into the right westbound lane of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard.

The driver of the box truck in that lane could not avoid the collision because there was a vehicle in the lane to the left of him.

Watts said the fire truck was considerably damaged, though she did not have a monetary estimate.

Officials do not yet know why the fire truck drifted backward, Watts said. No citations were issued.

The collision caused authorities to close two of the three westbound lanes of Gulf-to-Bay Boulevard for about an hour.