PALM COAST, Fla. — Officials with the Palm Coast Fire Department say a fire police volunteer was critically injured Tuesday evening when he was hit by a vehicle while securing the scene of an accident.

The initial crash happened just before 5 p.m. at the intersection of Seminole Woods Parkway and Sesame Drive.

Palm Coast Fire Police volunteer Stephen Brooks was securing the scene of the accident when he was struck by a vehicle, Chief Kyle Berryhill said during a press conference Wednesday.

When first responders arrived at the scene, "the crews began doing what they do on a consistent and daily basis — treating the injuries, clearing the scene," Berryhill said.

While the Florida Highway Patrol is investigating the incident, Berryhill said he did not believe there was "evidence of bad acting" on the part of the driver who hit Brooks, who was not immediately identified.

"My understanding is there was nothing criminal associated with this action," he said, later adding: "If I was guessing, I would say the sun was a factor. It certainly was as I was coming up, and I was being incredibly cautious."

Berryhill described the sun as "brutally blinding at that time of day."

Brooks — who is a retired railroad worker from Utah, where he also served as a volunteer firefighter before moving to Florida — was flown to the trauma center at Halifax Hospital in Daytona Beach, where doctors were able to stabilize his injuries. He is still listed in critical condition, but is awake and talking, Berryhill said.

“He’s a really good man,” Berryhill said as he took off his glasses and wiped his eyes. “You don’t like to see your team’s blood on the ground like we saw yesterday. But luckily, we believe that there’s a ton of hope about Steve’s condition, and we’re going to see him in a little bit.”

Berryhil said the outpouring of concern from the community has been amazing.

“We’re incredibly grateful for all of the prayers and thoughts that we’ve gotten from our community,” he said. “And we’re asking them to do that and to be incredibly mindful, just as they’re responding in the day-to-day, you know, everyone’s got places to go everyone’s got — time is our most valuable resource — but just to take an extra sense of caution as we’re going from place to place, especially when we’re in and around emergency scenes.”

“That was what Steven was doing — he was protecting the scene, and that’s what our fire police do every day, and so we’re really grateful for that, we’re really proud, and we’re really hopeful for the outcome here.”