Talbot Park Fire Engine Accident Fatalities 1953

On the night of July 26, 1953, Snohomish County Fire District No.1, Fire Station No. 1, received a call to respond to a brush fire in Talbot Park, near Meadowdale, Washington. As the engine, a 1951 Kenworth, traveled at a high rate of speed towards the reported vegetation fire, approached an intersection, a passenger vehicle attempted to cross the intersection. At about 10:40 pm, the vehicles collided. The engine lost control after the accident and traveled about 90 feet before hitting a utility pole, breaking it off at the ground, and stopped in a roadside ditch. Firefighter Ray Meyer was pronounced dead at the scene of the accident, while Fred Mahoney was critically injured and succumbed in the hospital hours later. Another firefighter also suffered serious injuries but survived, while the remaining four firefighters suffered minor injuries. A child in the passenger vehicle was killed, and additional four occupants were injured.