Palm Coast Fire Police member Steven Brooks was on duty, securing a crash site in Seminole Woods late Tuesday afternoon, when he was struck by a passing car and critically injured. He was flown to Halifax hospital in Daytona Beach, where he remains in critical but stable condition, according to Pam Coast Fire Chief Kyle Berryhill.
Fire police members assist first responders at emergencies, regulating traffic and ensuring that responders can operate safely.
The Seminole Woods incident was reported at 4:57 p.m. after a vehicle struck a motorized scooter at the intersection of Seminole Woods Boulevard and Sesame Boulevard (the north intersection of the Sesame loop). The person on the scooter was injured and transported to a local hospital. The crash involving Brooks was reported at 5:49 p.m.
“We do a lot to promote visibility for our fire police,” Berryhill said. “They’re first responders that are in a situation that’s become pretty hazardous to first responders, which is interacting with folks as they’re trying to move about in their vehicles.”
The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office and Florida Highway Patrol were at the scene. “I don’t have a report from FHP, or anything of that nature that says if someone was at fault or not,” the fire chief said. “I can tell you that it was the time of day where the sun is blindingly bright as I was pulling on the scene. It was something that I noticed. So I don’t want to make excuses. What I’d really like is for our community to take even more care as they’re moving in and around these emergency scenes. I know that they care about the first responders in Flagler County and Palm Coast. Just slow down and take a minute to be prepared.”
Brooks is a retired career fireman who had previously been in leadership at a fire department in Utah. He had also volunteered for the Flagler County Sheriff’s Citizen Observer Patrol known as COP.
Responders at emergency scenes, including tow operators, face significant hazards. In 2024, at least 46 responders were killed while on duty at road-incident scenes, including 26 law enforcement officers, three firefighters or associated services, and 12 tow operators, according to Respondersafety, a website that maintains an annual database of responder fatalities.
[This is a developing story.]
