Side Car, aka Diddle-Diddle-Dumpling

I wish I had a photo for this one, but it's not cool when a responding firefighter snaps a photo of the accident he's supposed to be assisting with.

My pager went off just before midnight last night, right as Shirra and I were finishing up "Groundhog Day," one of our favorite movies. There was a one-car accident on Highway 87, just outside of New Paltz. There hadn't been any calls for days, it seemed, and I'm always (morbidly) fascinated by car wrecks, so I raced out of the house in hopes of catching up with the fire truck at the highway entrance.

Because we live so far from the fire house, it's rare for me to make it onto a fire truck except for these sorts of calls, and then only if I get to the highway really fast. Fellow firefighter Steve, who also lives a few miles from the center of the Village, had arrived just seconds before me. He was already in his gear, but I didn't have time to change so I simply grabbed my things. We could hear the fire truck heading towards us, but as it got close, it didn't slow down; we heard someone yell, "Full" as it headed thru the toll plaza. Luckily for us, the Ass't Chief's car was close behind and he picked us up. I changed in the backseat as we sped nearly 6 miles to the scene, getting there in just under 4 minutes. We passed our fire truck on the way.

There were already a lot of firemen at the scene of the accident. This was odd, since there was no fire truck on hand. It turns out that by coincidence, the accident happened just as a group of Plattekill firemen were driving home after a parade in Albany. They helped out for awhile before continuing on their way. NP Rescue was already there, too, as were lots of police. They told us that the driver was mostly fine (his lacerated wrist was wrapped up, and he was ambulatory), but his passenger probably had a broken hip. The car had slid off the road (reason unknown), driven along the grass, and then gone up the embankment before smashing into a big tree and falling onto its side. The passenger was still being tended to when we got there, and there were plenty of people to help him, so Steve and I worked on the car. It was on its side, but the keys were in the ignition and it was still running. I held back the hood and Steve cut the battery cables so that the car couldn't suddenly burst into flame. Later we put out the roadside flares that were no longer necessary. That was the extent of our work at the scene.

That's not to say that this wasn't an interesting call. It's always fun to hang out with state troopers and watch tow-truck operators in action. And there was a strange moment involving the driver's sneaker. It was found in the car, and then the trooper remembered that he'd been walking around with one shoe after the accident. We used this other sneaker to collect some belongings that didn't make it onto the ambulance with him: a Blackberry, both wallets, and a few knickknacks. The trooper was hoping to hand this sneaker to the EMTs, but the ambulance had already left. He would have to transport the sneaker to the hospital himself, making his night even longer. As we drove away, we saw the trooper changing direction by crossing to the other side of the highway. Perhaps he forgot about the shoe or decided to mail the items from the police station.