Mother-Son Firefighters Victims of Highway Crash

GLENDALE, Ky. (AP) — A mother and her son, both firefighters, were in the "mop up" phase of putting out a van fire along a busy interstate when semitrailer slammed into their fire engine early Wednesday, killing the son and injuring his mother, police said.

Jonathan French, 25, was killed and his mother, Lisa French, was taken to a hospital where she was in serious condition, Kentucky State Police Trooper Jeff Gregory said.

Firefighting ran in the French family. Jonathan French had volunteered for the Glendale Fire Department for about five years. Lisa French had been there for about seven years. Her brother, Richard Peters, is the agency's fire chief.

"It's just something that gets in the family blood," Peters said.

Jonathan French was a third-generation firefighter whose parents met while volunteering for the department, Peters said. French also has a brother and a sister who volunteer for the Glendale's fire department.

Peters said he also responded to the fire and was in front of the department's tanker truck when the engine was hit. He said he did not see the semi coming.

"We didn't see anything but flying debris," he said.

The crash occurred in central Kentucky along Interstate 65 about 3:30 a.m. Wednesday, about 1 mile north of Glendale, a town located 50 miles south of Louisville. The mother and son were getting equipment off the fire truck when it was hit.

"The semi struck both of them and also clipped the front end of the fire engine," Gregory said.

Gregory said the fire truck's emergency lights were on at the time of the crash. He identified the truck driver as John M. Hatton of Covington.

Gregory also didn't know how many people were in the burning van or if they were hurt. No charges have been filed.

The Glendale Fire Department has about two dozen firefighters.

"It hurts us all because we are a brotherhood. The Glendale Fire Department is immensely devastated at this time," said Elizabethtown Fire Chief Michael Hulsey, whose department is nearby.

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