SUV slides off icy Interstate 470, strikes Topeka Fire Department Capt. Ty Forshee

A Topeka firefighter was recovering at a local hospital Friday after a sport utility vehicle slid off icy Interstate 470 and rolled down a hill Thursday in west Topeka, striking and seriously injuring him. The firefighter was on foot away from the road while responding to provide emergency medical care at the scene of an earlier crash.

A Kansas Highway Patrol accident report identified the victim as Ty Colin Forshee, 45. Forshee is a captain who has served 21 years with the Topeka Fire Department.

"The captain remains in the hospital and is doing well," city communications director Gretchen Spiker said Friday morning.

Firefighters 'tried to get away as best they could'

Forshee was among those who responded when the Topeka Police Department and Topeka Fire Department were called shortly before 7:45 a.m. Thursday to the scene of a traffic crash on Interstate 470 near S.W. Huntoon, in an area where drivers who are northbound on I-470 exit onto eastbound Interstate 70.

A fire department battalion chief and firefighters in two engines responded to the scene, where the two vehicles involved in the initial crash had slid off I-470 in an area where drivers go around a curve and over a bridge, Topeka Fire Chief Randy Phillips said at a news conference Thursday afternoon.

Phillips said firefighters were going on foot down an embankment to check on the conditions of the people involved when another vehicle — described in the accident report as a 1999 Honda CR-V driven by Robert Gary Cooper, 57, of Topeka — slid off I-470 in that same area and went down that embankment.

Firefighters "tried to get away as best they could," but one was struck, Phillips said.

Cooper and those involved in the initial crash suffered minor injuries but declined medical treatment at the scene, he said.

The Kansas Highway Patrol was investigating circumstances of both crashes.

Authorities temporarily blocked off westbound I-470 in the area involved before reopening it late Thursday morning.

'At the Topeka Fire Department, we are a family'

Members of the Topeka Fire Department's peer support team were notified, and were available to assist firefighters who had been at the scene, Phillips said.

"At the Topeka Fire Department, we are a family," he said. "The entire department is coming together to surround the injured firefighter and his family with support, and our primary focus is on the health of this individual."

Thursday's situation " amplifies the dangers that fire crews and other first responders face every day when responding to calls on roadways," Phillips said.

He stressed the importance of driving with caution, particularly amid wintry weather or when they see emergency lights in front of them.

"Our fire department family is rallying around one of our own, and we hope you will do your part in keeping everyone in Topeka safe on the roads this wintertime," Phillips said.

He said the Topeka Fire Department's standard procedure at scenes of accidents, such as Thursday's initial crash, is to place its firetrucks in such a manner that they provide a barrier between the roadway and the place where firefighters are going, but firefighters on Thursday weren't able to completely shut down that scene.

Thursday's accident marked the Topeka Fire Department's last on-duty serious injury or death since Capt. Anthony P. "Tony" Cox died at age 44 while helping battle a house fire in August 2007 in southwest Topeka, Phillips said.

An autopsy concluded Cox's death was due to heart disease aggravated by extreme heat.

Contact Tim Hrenchir at threnchir@gannett.com or 785-213-5934..

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Vehicle strikes and seriously injures Topeka firefighter along I-470