Things That Go THUNK! In The Night
OPEN: JANUS FILE #0408
First of all, I'm all right. I want to establish that before we go any further. I may be a little sleep-deprived, but I am all right.
That said, I had one hell of a strange morning.
It started around 01.30 AM. I was half-asleep, and trying to fully enter the realm of Morpheus, until I was suddenly awakened by my building shaking, which was accompanied by a very loud THUNK!
Actually, THUNK! doesn't even begin to adequately describe the sound. Not even in all caps, boldface, italicized, and accompanied by a plethora of exclamation points. But I suppose it will have to do.
My first inclination was to try to go back to sleep. That lasted less than five seconds, as it quickly occurred to at least part of my brain that it might be a good idea to learn what had caused said THUNK! I fumbled for my glasses and the flashlight sitting adjacent to them, turned on the lamp, and grabbed my sneakers before going out to investigate.
[NOTE: For the record, I should state that I sleep in sweatpants, socks, and a T-shirt.]
I wasn't the only curious one. Most of my neighbors had been similarly awakened, and were just as curious/concerned/worried as I was. I think it was safe to say that we were all thinking the same thing -- "What the hell was that?" The first thing we learned was that something was blocking the back entrance to the building.
We streamed out the front entrance, and made our way around the building, where we discovered the source of both the blocked entrance and the shake, rattle, and roll which had roused us.
A fire engine had crashed into the building.
I think the first thing resembling a coherent thought that filtered through my mind was, That's something you don't see every day, This was followed in rapid succession by Holy crap!, Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish!, and a few other similarly colorful turns of phrase. It took a few more seconds for What about the firefighters? to slowly filter its way to rational thought. I carefully picked my way to the front of the engine, stepping around some fallen trees, and the engine door that had been ripped off in the crash. It looked like the driver was slumped over the steering wheel, and I asked if anyone needed any help. They said no, so I moved out of the way.
I had a chance to see some of the damage from the inside. I followed several of my neighbors to the unit that appears to have received the most damage. The resident had been in the unit at the time, although fortunately nowhere near the impact. To say that he was not happy was an understatement. He let us take a peek inside, and I could see why he was just a little upset. The fire engine came close to giving him a drive-in window.
[I later heard that the fire engine was responding to an emergency call when, for some reason, it lost control and crashed into my condo complex. I'm going to be keeping an eye out for the investigation.]
I stood around talking with some of my neighbors for a while, and eventually the journalism major in me finally kicked in. It occurred to me that this definitely fit the definition of newsworthiness, and I went back to my condo. I called the newsrooms of all of Louisville's TV stations. I don't think there was anyone at WDRB's newsroom, but I did get through to the news departments of WAVE, WHAS, and WLKY -- after getting recorded messages on all of them. I gave a quick rundown of what happened. The most amusing exchange happened when I called WAVE. The woman who answered my call asked if I could get any photos, and I told her that I had neither digital camera nor cellphone.
This kind of surprised her. "Oh, so you're calling from a landline!"
WAVE and WHAS both sent reporters, although the police and fire departments wouldn't let them shoot anywhere near the fire engine. It made me wish that I did have a video camera. They did shoot from a distance, as well as a brief interview with the fire chief.
Part of me wanted to go back to sleep, but I knew that wasn't going to happen until things died down. That wouldn't happen for several hours. I spent some time in the complex's clubhouse talking with some neighbors who had gathered there. Most of the time, though, I was just walking around, doing something -- anything -- to keep myself awake.
I think it was around 04.30 when a tow truck finally pulled the fire engine back onto the road. That was when we finally got a good luck at the damage. One unit's balcony had been completely destroyed. Someone said that the residents were on vacation. On the good side, no one was there to get injured. On the less than good side, they are going to be in for a BIG surprise when they return home.
It was a little after 05.00 AM when I finally turned off the light and went back to sleep. And I'm really surprised that I even woke up when my alarm clock went off at 07.00. If I had been thinking clearly, I would have turned it off. As it was, I shut off the alarm, and went right back to sleep. It was 10.00 AM when I woke up again.
I had a better view of the carnage in the light of day. At least three or four trees lining the sidewalk had been taken out by the fire engine when it crashed, and it came way too close to taking out a utility pole as well. The back entrance to my building has been roped off with "FIRE LINE -- DO NOT CROSS" tape. As I was going to the library, I saw a car for a restoration/remodeling service in the parking lot, so it looks like they're trying to get things back to normal as possible.
I'm sure this falls into the category of "Man Bites Dog." I would be happy if it happens somewhere else next time.
CLOSE: JANUS FILE #0408
First of all, I'm all right. I want to establish that before we go any further. I may be a little sleep-deprived, but I am all right.
That said, I had one hell of a strange morning.
It started around 01.30 AM. I was half-asleep, and trying to fully enter the realm of Morpheus, until I was suddenly awakened by my building shaking, which was accompanied by a very loud THUNK!
Actually, THUNK! doesn't even begin to adequately describe the sound. Not even in all caps, boldface, italicized, and accompanied by a plethora of exclamation points. But I suppose it will have to do.
My first inclination was to try to go back to sleep. That lasted less than five seconds, as it quickly occurred to at least part of my brain that it might be a good idea to learn what had caused said THUNK! I fumbled for my glasses and the flashlight sitting adjacent to them, turned on the lamp, and grabbed my sneakers before going out to investigate.
[NOTE: For the record, I should state that I sleep in sweatpants, socks, and a T-shirt.]
I wasn't the only curious one. Most of my neighbors had been similarly awakened, and were just as curious/concerned/worried as I was. I think it was safe to say that we were all thinking the same thing -- "What the hell was that?" The first thing we learned was that something was blocking the back entrance to the building.
We streamed out the front entrance, and made our way around the building, where we discovered the source of both the blocked entrance and the shake, rattle, and roll which had roused us.
A fire engine had crashed into the building.
I think the first thing resembling a coherent thought that filtered through my mind was, That's something you don't see every day, This was followed in rapid succession by Holy crap!, Holy Zarquon's Singing Fish!, and a few other similarly colorful turns of phrase. It took a few more seconds for What about the firefighters? to slowly filter its way to rational thought. I carefully picked my way to the front of the engine, stepping around some fallen trees, and the engine door that had been ripped off in the crash. It looked like the driver was slumped over the steering wheel, and I asked if anyone needed any help. They said no, so I moved out of the way.
I had a chance to see some of the damage from the inside. I followed several of my neighbors to the unit that appears to have received the most damage. The resident had been in the unit at the time, although fortunately nowhere near the impact. To say that he was not happy was an understatement. He let us take a peek inside, and I could see why he was just a little upset. The fire engine came close to giving him a drive-in window.
[I later heard that the fire engine was responding to an emergency call when, for some reason, it lost control and crashed into my condo complex. I'm going to be keeping an eye out for the investigation.]
I stood around talking with some of my neighbors for a while, and eventually the journalism major in me finally kicked in. It occurred to me that this definitely fit the definition of newsworthiness, and I went back to my condo. I called the newsrooms of all of Louisville's TV stations. I don't think there was anyone at WDRB's newsroom, but I did get through to the news departments of WAVE, WHAS, and WLKY -- after getting recorded messages on all of them. I gave a quick rundown of what happened. The most amusing exchange happened when I called WAVE. The woman who answered my call asked if I could get any photos, and I told her that I had neither digital camera nor cellphone.
This kind of surprised her. "Oh, so you're calling from a landline!"
WAVE and WHAS both sent reporters, although the police and fire departments wouldn't let them shoot anywhere near the fire engine. It made me wish that I did have a video camera. They did shoot from a distance, as well as a brief interview with the fire chief.
Part of me wanted to go back to sleep, but I knew that wasn't going to happen until things died down. That wouldn't happen for several hours. I spent some time in the complex's clubhouse talking with some neighbors who had gathered there. Most of the time, though, I was just walking around, doing something -- anything -- to keep myself awake.
I think it was around 04.30 when a tow truck finally pulled the fire engine back onto the road. That was when we finally got a good luck at the damage. One unit's balcony had been completely destroyed. Someone said that the residents were on vacation. On the good side, no one was there to get injured. On the less than good side, they are going to be in for a BIG surprise when they return home.
It was a little after 05.00 AM when I finally turned off the light and went back to sleep. And I'm really surprised that I even woke up when my alarm clock went off at 07.00. If I had been thinking clearly, I would have turned it off. As it was, I shut off the alarm, and went right back to sleep. It was 10.00 AM when I woke up again.
I had a better view of the carnage in the light of day. At least three or four trees lining the sidewalk had been taken out by the fire engine when it crashed, and it came way too close to taking out a utility pole as well. The back entrance to my building has been roped off with "FIRE LINE -- DO NOT CROSS" tape. As I was going to the library, I saw a car for a restoration/remodeling service in the parking lot, so it looks like they're trying to get things back to normal as possible.
I'm sure this falls into the category of "Man Bites Dog." I would be happy if it happens somewhere else next time.
CLOSE: JANUS FILE #0408