Two people were injured Wednesday when a fire engine slammed into a North Texas Dairy Queen.
City officials said Greenville Fire-Rescue Unit 4 crashed into the restaurant located on the 200 block of Highway 380 East in Farmersville at about noon. The truck was headed east on U.S. 380 when it left the road for an unknown reason. [[365949411,C]]
"It happened right in front of me," said restaurant manager Babbett Pattillo. "I mean, I was on the phone looking out of the highway and taking an order when it came right beside me. It just took out everything."
The truck crashed into an outdoor patio and through a portion of the restaurant, collapsing part of the front wall, before coming to a stop on the other side of the restaurant.
A fire truck crashes into a Dairy Queen in Farmersville, Texas, Jan. 20, 2016.
"We just started scrambling around looking for everybody and once we found everyone, they made us get out," Pattillo said. "I mean seconds, it happen in seconds."
NBC 5 has learned the truck had just been serviced by Siddons-Martin Emergency Group in Denton and that the company was returning the vehicle to the fire station when the crash occurred.
The truck was not being driven by a firefighter at the time of the crash and was not headed to an emergency call.
The driver of the truck and a restaurant employee were hospitalized with injuries that were not life threatening, officials said.
Dairy Queen employee Natalie Boden, 19, was working at the drive-thru window at the time of the crash. She was grabbing a drink carrier for a customer when debris suddenly knocked her to the ground.
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She said two co-workers dug her out of the rubble and carried her outside. She said she didn't realize what happened until she saw pictures from her hospital bed.
"We were just doing our own thing. Nobody saw it coming. It just happened right then and there," Boden said. "Not everyone knew people carried me to the back because everybody thought I was under the debris dead or something, but I'm not."
Fire Truck Crashes Into Farmersville Dairy Queen
Boden suffered a bump on her forehead, a gash behind her ear and several scrapes and bruises. She was released from the hospital Wednesday evening.
She said her first concern was whether her customers were okay.
"I was worried about my customers in line because I thought it just ran right over them. But they're all okay. Everyone else is okay. It's just a mess now," she said.
Siddons-Martin Emergency Group released a statement Wednesday afternoon, which read, in part:
Siddons Martin is cooperating with the authorities to determine the nature and cause of this unfortunate accident. Our thoughts and prayers are with the technician who was injured as well as the injured bystanders.
The restaurant owner said the building is a major loss.
"I've been doing this for 30 years," said Joe McKee, owner of the restaurant. "This is my life seven days a week, so I'm pretty devastated right now."
McKee is also concerned about his employees.
"I have 32 people that probably just lost their jobs or I don't know," McKee said. "I just don't know about any of that."
It is unclear what led to the crash.
NBC 5's Eric King, Meredith Yeomans and Frank Heinz contributed to this report.
