Guymon, OK (May 15, 2026) – Two firefighters were hurt after a fire brush unit rolled over on Thursday, May 14, on Hwy 136 just north of Guymon, near the Kansas border.
The unit had been dispatched around 4:20 p.m. to respond to a large grass fire caused by lightning in Kansas. While heading to the scene, the front tire caught the right shoulder edge of the highway. The vehicle overcorrected, with water shifting in the tank contributing to the loss of control, and the truck rolled one and a half times before coming to rest upside down in a ditch on the east side of the road.
Both firefighters were able to get out of the vehicle on their own and call for help. One was treated for minor injuries and released. The other was admitted to a hospital in stable condition with chest and back injuries.
Authorities continue to investigate the cause of the crash, and more details will be released as soon as they become available. Our thoughts are with both firefighters as they recover.
What Factors Make Emergency Vehicle Rollovers a Risk in Oklahoma?
Fire trucks and brush units carry significant amounts of water, which shifts as the vehicle moves — especially during sharp turns or sudden steering corrections. This shifting weight can affect how the vehicle responds, making overcorrection more likely in situations where a driver needs to react quickly. On rural Oklahoma highways with narrow shoulders and uneven road edges, catching a tire on the shoulder is a known hazard for large vehicles traveling at speed.
Emergency vehicles are often moving quickly when responding to calls, which reduces the time available to react to road conditions. Training programs for emergency drivers specifically address the dynamics of heavy vehicles with liquid loads, since these behave differently than standard trucks. Even experienced drivers can encounter situations where road edge conditions and load movement combine in ways that are difficult to manage.
