Investigation after two wheels come off fire truck

The Fire Service is relieved that nobody was injured when a fire truck lost two wheels which carried on into Wellington traffic yesterday.

The incident has sparked a major investigation and all fire trucks in the greater Wellington region are being checked.

It was about midday near the Hataitai tunnel in Wellington when two of the rear wheels from the truck flew off and hit three cars.

"The driver did a good job to land it safely and it could have been a lot worse," Fire Service regional commander Bill Butzbach told NZPA tonight. He was pleased that nobody had been injured.

Mr Butzbach said there was some damage sustained to cars and there was a lot of disruption to traffic, but people had been patient.

"The truck has been impounded in our own secure facilities and we're going to carry out an investigation.

"We have some pretty comprehensive safety checks and so I'm really keen to understand what's gone wrong on this occasion," Mr Butzbach said.

- NZPA