A bus crashed in front of our window.

 

I was hanging out Friday night about 7:30 pm when I heard the sirens out the window peter out in front of our apartment.  Oh. Oh.

I went over to take look figuring it was another fire.  But no.  It was this.

In this close-up you can see that the bus jumped onto the sidewalk, knocked down a tree, and pushed it into the next tree on the sidewalk.  Yikes.  It’s so lucky that it’s quiet in the city this week and no one was walking on the sidewalk at the time. 

The FDNY immediately set to work sawing and removing the tree. 

 Who knew they were so versatile?

Then they spent a few hours removing the windshield so they could free the driver safely.

Did I mention that while this was all happening it was sleeting off and on?  I wondered if that contributed to the accident. 

 Clearly the cab was involved.  Luckily its air bags deployed. The story in the Daily News quoted witnesses saying the bus was “zooming” and “careened into the cab and then the tree.”  Hmm.

Meanwhile the traffic was backing up on First Avenue. 

Eventually someone noticed and the traffic was rerouted to York Avenue.

The driver and two passengers ended up going to the hospital, but I don’t think anyone was seriously injured.

I wondered how they would remove the bus.  First, they had to trim more tree branches.

Then, they pulled a tow truck up to the back of the bus and pulled it off the curb and back into the street.  There was a lot of metal crumbling noises then a big thump.

But the tow truck was facing south and First Avenue runs north.  Oops.  What to do now?  A major discussion ensued.

Watching the action, I flashed back to the time that NYC had a snow storm during the week between Christmas and New Year.  The “A” team was off celebrating their holidays so chaos reigned. 

I wonder how low on the totem pole you are if you have to work the July 4th 4-day holiday weekend.  I saw the guy in the orange vest take photos then get on the phone. I suspect he was reporting in and ruining someone else’s holiday. ☹

A strategy was agreed upon and the tow truck made its way to the front of the bus.  Problem solved.

And off they went.  Hopefully their route to the garage didn’t involve any turns.  I’m still not sure how they would manage those.

The next morning the actual tree trimming guys showed up at 6 am !!! with their buzzsaws to finish the job and by the time the staff and I checked it out at 7 am all was quiet.

Maybe the city will replace the tree and the dead one next to it too. 😊

Here’s a link to the last adventure on the block – just last month…

https://pj-studio.blogspot.com/2024/05/eleven-fire-trucks.html

Cheers!

PJ

 

© 2024 PJ Lehrer