LONG BEACH – Four Long Beach firefighters were hospitalized Thursday morning after a concrete pump truck collided with their fire engine on the southbound San Gabriel (605) Freeway.

The firefighters and the pump-truck driver all suffered moderate to serious injuries in the early-morning crash but were expected to make full recoveries, said Long Beach Fire Department Capt. Rich Brandt.

Brandt said Engine 5 and Engine 18 had responded to reports of a car that had gone over the side of the 605 freeway near Carson Street at 12:30 a.m.

The three firefighters on Engine 5 had pulled over to the freeway shoulder and were out searching in the bushes for the car, while Engine 18 was slowly traveling down the freeway searching for the car.

“Engine 18 was heading southbound in the No. 4 lane at about 25 miles per hour when a concrete pump truck rear-ended them,” Brant said.

The California Highway Patrol estimated that the truck was traveling at 60 miles per hour, he said. Engine 18 skidded about 600 yards down the freeway and missed hitting Engine 5 by just six inches.

“I could have been very bad because our guys on Engine 5 were outside and could have been killed,” he said.

Three of the firefighters suffered concussions and facial trauma and remained hospitalized, he said. A fourth firefighter suffered minor injuries and was released.

Brandt said the driver of the concrete pump truck appeared to have miscalculated how fast the fire engine was traveling. The incident was under investigation.