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Firetruck Apprehends Robbers in High-Speed Chase

MIAMI, FL – Fire rescue trucks aren’t known for their speed, but Friday afternoon Broward Sheriff’s Office firefighters pushed the pedal to the metal.

Weaving through traffic at 65 mph, three firefighters in a BSO fire rescue truck chased two suspects in a Plantation armed robbery. The men were arrested by BSO deputies and are in custody.

’’Had our firefighters not sensed something wasn’t right, these men who are armed and dangerous would still be at large,’’ said BSO public information officer Mike Jachles.

Around 2 p.m., the firefighters were returning to their Lauderhill station from a call. Driving down U.S. 441, they noticed two men with their heads and faces covered with fabric. Authorities later confirmed that the men had just robbed a Metro PCS store in Plantation.

’’I looked back and saw a guy putting something into his waistband that looked like a gun,’’ said Lt. Dean Meadows, who sat in the passenger seat of the truck. `I called dispatch with their license plate number and a description.’‘

They followed the white SUV for about a half-mile with their lights and sirens off. But when the suspects made an illegal U-turn, the firefighters turned on their sirens and continued chasing them onto eastbound Interstate 595 and south on Interstate 95.

They lost sight of them around Stirling Road. There, a BSO deputy chased them until they crashed near the Interstate 95 exit of Stirling road.

Chasing the car was second nature to the firefighters, Meadows said.

’’We were going as fast as we could, but they were going so fast, they were just a tiny white speck in the distance,’’ Meadows said. ``We can only go so fast, so I wouldn’t say we were chasing them – I would say we were keeping an eye on them.’‘

Deputies surrounded the area of Stirling Road and 24th Avenue in Dania Beach, where the suspects jumped out of the car and ran off. At one point, a woman called 911, saying a man, who authorities believed to be one of the suspects, forced his way into her house.

Law-enforcement agencies set up a perimeter; police dogs and a helicopter were used to search the area as well.

Later in the day, Plantation police questioned the men, but charges were not filed as of late Friday.

’’I’ve been doing this for 17 years, and I’ve never been involved in a chase in a fire truck,’’ Meadows said Firetrucks are heavy and clumsy – ’’like pigs,’’ he says. Usually ``they won’t get out of their own way.’‘

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