A witness described seeing seeing several fire trucks with their sirens blaring when another driver, instead of stopping, tried to get through the intersection at 47th and State streets in Bronzeville.
"The sound was like a bomb," said Rickey Dawson.
The metal between a Chicago fire truck and white Chevy Impala was left mangled together seemingly by sheer force.
The front of the car caved in following a crash that sent its driver and five firefighters to the hospital.
"The fire truck dragged him all the way down here," Dawson said.
Dawson was walking steps away when he saw the collision just after 4:15 p.m.
"He thought he could beat them, but as a result, he couldn't beat them," Dawson said.
Police confirmed that the fire truck had its emergency equipment activated while traveling east on 47th Street when the car, going south on State Street, crashed into it.
Dawson watched as the 30-year-old man behind the wheel was taken away on a stretcher.
"Because if you get hit like that, I don't think you're conscious in your right mind. Who would be? It's like a train hitting you," Dawson said.
Police said the car's 30-year-old driver was also taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
There's no word if any citations will be issued.
Further information was not immediately available.