glenmar
Posted : 12/7/2009 10:18:26 PM
Man talk about an exciting evening.
I was in the studio recording my shift when DH burst in (he NEVER interrupts me) and said that a car had just hit the house in front of us. Originally, the first station owner lived in this house and had the radio station, basically in his back yard. There is a fairly busy road that dead ends into the street that the station is on. The driveway is dead straight ahead. The guy said he couldn't stop......so he shot across the cross street, hit the truck that was angle parked in the peoples yard, pushed it sideways against the house and then barreled into the back corner of their house. The SUV didn't go THROUGH the wall, but lets just say that the corner is no longer terribly straight. No one was hurt and the driver didn't want the police called, but the wife DID call. I smelled alcohol VERY strongly, so that may be why they didn't want the police involved. One of the two men involved was later holding a towel to his head, so it's possible that he was hurt, but we were trying not to get into their business. I did move my car so they could have some light from the headlights on things.
So, almost 2 hours later we were able to leave....the police, ambulance, paramedics and flat bed tow truck finally left and we got out before the wrecker came back for the homeowners truck. It was clear that the frame was bent and the tailgate was pushed in a good 6".
I was sitting on the front porch waiting for Tyler to potty and a car stopped on the far side of our driveway. I could tell it was a fire department vehicle. And then it turned into our driveway. Put Tyler in the house and went to see what was up. They had an "accident" and wanted to be sure that they hadn't done any damage. AH, dawns the light.....the EMS vehicle and the fire truck had shot right past the station earlier and had to turn around. It took the fire truck much longer. When turning around they managed to hit the power pole at the foot of our driveway and mangled the phone box pretty good too. I mentioned that I had been at the station when the accident happened, had seen the trucks shoot by, and that my son told me that the fire truck was stopped in front of the house because traffic wouldn't let it through. Apparently that fact made the fire chiefs night...that's what he told me anyway. The truck hit the pole etc TRYING TO GET THROUGH with flashers and sirens going enroute to a call and the danged traffic refused to yield!
I'll tell you, that totally ticks me off. I don't care that the phone box needs fixing...the phone and internet work and the phone company is coming out to fix the box before we get 1/2 inch of rain tomorrow. What ticks me off is that people don't have enough sense to get the hell-o out of the way of a freaking fire truck! THEY didn't know where the truck was headed and even a few seconds delay can cost a life for crying out loud. Not to mention that it's against the law to NOT yield to an emergency vehicle. I'm just steaming over that.
Many years ago, when firefighters still rode on the back of the trucks, a truck in my hometown was enroute to a fire. A car ran a red light and broadsided the truck, bending the rear axel and driving a fire ax through the head of one of the men. Even if my Dad had not been a firefighter, that would have hit me hard.
How dare people????? The ambulance that they don't get out of the way for COULD be carrying one of THEIR loved ones.......the fire truck COULD be racing to try and save THEIR house......
Sorry, I'd better shut up. Thanks for letting me rant.