Julia DeMoss, a Virginia Beach, Virginia resident, parked her car in her complex’s parking lot next to her neighbors after work like she usually does. On February 6, the Virginia Beach Fire Department responded to an emergency at the neighboring apartment complex and ended up damaging nearly 10 cars thanks to a freak accident.
Speed bumps ended up being the fire engine’s worst enemy. When going through the complex’s parking lot, the hose bundle on the back of the engine shook loose. Unsecured, the hose became lodged underneath a parked car, causing the rest of the hose to unravel.
The fire engine and the personnel inside were unaware and continued driving, pulling a string of cars with the hose.
“As it fully deployed, it tightened, resulting in the movement of several parked vehicles along the street,” the VBFD wrote in a statement to WAVY. “The hose eventually split at a coupling, causing a recoil effect both toward the engine and back toward the 24th Street turn.”
DeMoss’s car took the most damage
All cars that were parked over the hose took minimal damage, but DeMoss’s car took it the hardest. The end of the hose bounced up and crashed into her windshield, causing a massive hole in the center and nearly shattering the rest of it.
“I realized it was totally smashed,” she said. Her insurance said it was totaled, even though she’s recently finished paying it off. At first, she thought the damage was just to the windshield, but soon realized it was much more extensive.
“There had been some cosmetic scrappage on the hood of my car and some on the roof. But what happened was, because the fire hose hit so hard in the windshield, it turned the glass into a fine powder that leaked into the vents of my car,” she said.
The city promised to help pay for the hose damage, but won’t put it in writing
DeMoss contacted the city’s finance risk management division, who told her over the phone she wouldn’t pay a dime for the damage. However, she became suspicious when the city wouldn’t honor a single request.
“The city operates as its own insurance company, from what I understood, and so they weren’t able to put in writing that I would be guaranteed reimbursement on a rental car… I had to pay out of my pocket and use my insurance to be able to protect myself,” she explained.
“They sent it verbally, but wouldn’t put it in writing. And so, I just didn’t feel comfortable with how the process worked. I felt that as somebody who was sort of a victim in the situation, I didn’t have the support that I thought.”
She’s still waiting to hear back from the city about her windshield. Until then, she’s driving a rental car.
