One man is dead and another was hospitalized after being hit by a fire truck on icy roads near the community of Port Howe in Cumberland County.

Nova Scotia RCMP said a chain of events leading to the accident started at approximately 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, when emergency crews were called to a single vehicle rollover in Linden.

While en route to that accident, a fire truck from the Pugwash Volunteer Fire Department came upon a second accident — one vehicle was off the road on Highway 6 and two others were stopped to help.

The fire truck slid on the icy road, said RCMP Sgt. Al LeBlanc.

"The driver of the fire truck lost control of the vehicle and collided with the vehicles on the road and they all ended up in the ditch," he said.

Two men were transported to hospital and one of the men later died of his injuries. The second man was treated and later released.

There were eight people associated with the three vehicles at the accident scene. It's not known whether they were inside their vehicles or outside when they were hit by the fire truck.

A collision reconstructionist was called in and Highway 6 was expected to be closed for several hours, between the intersection with Highway 366 and Tidnish Linden Road.

RCMP Sgt. Allan Carroll said freezing rain played a role in the accident, but there will be an investigation into other possible causes.

He said police from the Cumberland County detachment responded to about 10 accidents over the course of two hours in the afternoon as roads became icy.

"The roads became very icy and at the scene of the accident it became very difficult for some of the first responders to even maintain their footing," said Carroll.

Road conditions were treacherous all afternoon in northern Nova Scotia, said RCMP.

In one case, a school bus went off the road in Maryvale, just north of Antigonish. No one was injured in that accident.