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Not a good morning
May. 8th, 2008 09:47 amThis morning when the T stopped at Packard's Corner, the driver made an announcement that there had been an accident and we should get off and use bus connections. When I got off the train and came around the front of the intersection to try to catch the 57 bus, I found myself in the middle of a major accident scene. We must have arrived shortly after the collisions occurred. There was a mangled SUV crashed into the front of the building at the intersection. There was a semi truck on front of the Super 88, with the cab engulfed in flames and a large plume of black smoke going up into the air.
As the group of us from the train were lining up to try to get on the two approaching 57s (right across the street from the burning truck), the various T officials in the area and the cops started waving us away, back across to the other side of Comm Ave, saying that the truck was going to blow up. They were waving the buses through, too, urging them to get out of there (and the bus drivers didn't waste any time in doing so). So we walked back. The truck exploded when we got to the T tracks; we were far enough to be out of serious danger but still way closer than I ever want to be to an explosion. It exploded again when we got to the far side of Comm Ave.
I started walking up Comm Ave and saw a couple more mangled cars near Shaw's, and then at Babcock, there was a pickup truck in the middle of the T tracks, and one more mangled car by the side of the road, with an ambulance nearby. It was a really unpleasant scene. There were also a few bystanders who had seen the whole thing who were shaken and upset - a couple of them were crying. Some of the folks from the train made sure they were okay, and walked with them.
I called work to let them know that I would be late. I ended up walking up Comm Ave until I got to the BU campus. At that point, I saw some people waiting at the BU West T stop, so I went over to let them know that the train would not be coming. Then I walked over to Beacon Street to catch the T so I could get to work.
I got a little shaky on the way to work. I'm generally good at dealing with these kinds of situations. I don't panic or freeze up, the adrenaline kicks in, and I manage to act at least halfway intelligently. Instead, I get all wobbly and upset after everything is over and I'm safely away from the scene, and it's made this a pretty rough morning.
As the group of us from the train were lining up to try to get on the two approaching 57s (right across the street from the burning truck), the various T officials in the area and the cops started waving us away, back across to the other side of Comm Ave, saying that the truck was going to blow up. They were waving the buses through, too, urging them to get out of there (and the bus drivers didn't waste any time in doing so). So we walked back. The truck exploded when we got to the T tracks; we were far enough to be out of serious danger but still way closer than I ever want to be to an explosion. It exploded again when we got to the far side of Comm Ave.
I started walking up Comm Ave and saw a couple more mangled cars near Shaw's, and then at Babcock, there was a pickup truck in the middle of the T tracks, and one more mangled car by the side of the road, with an ambulance nearby. It was a really unpleasant scene. There were also a few bystanders who had seen the whole thing who were shaken and upset - a couple of them were crying. Some of the folks from the train made sure they were okay, and walked with them.
I called work to let them know that I would be late. I ended up walking up Comm Ave until I got to the BU campus. At that point, I saw some people waiting at the BU West T stop, so I went over to let them know that the train would not be coming. Then I walked over to Beacon Street to catch the T so I could get to work.
I got a little shaky on the way to work. I'm generally good at dealing with these kinds of situations. I don't panic or freeze up, the adrenaline kicks in, and I manage to act at least halfway intelligently. Instead, I get all wobbly and upset after everything is over and I'm safely away from the scene, and it's made this a pretty rough morning.
