Pittsburgh bridge-
‘Sounded like a huge snowplow’-
10 injured in Pittsburgh bridge collapse early Friday morning in Frick Park-
“A human chain was formed as crews rappelled about 150 feet down a ravine to rescue trapped passengers from vehicles and a city transit bus.“
The following written content by Allison Finch
The collapse of the four-lane Fern Hollow Bridge that carries Forbes Avenue over Frick Park occurred at 6:39 a.m. local time in Pittsburgh’s Point Breeze and Squirrel Hill neighborhoods, city officials said. City Fire Chief Darryl Jones said rescuers had to rappel nearly 150 feet into a park ravine to reach people stranded in the dangling transit bus and in the cars, including at least one that landed on its roof.
“They rappeled down using ropes and helped firefighters already on the scene. They did like a daisy chain with hands just grabbing people and pulling them up,” Jones said. The rescue operation took about two hours, according to city officials, although FEMA’s Urban Search & Rescue unit arrived soon after on the scene, using search dogs and drones to comb the area looking for any pedestrians or joggers who may have been in the area below.
The chief told reporters that of the 10 people injured, four adults were taken to two city hospitals, and the UPMC hospital system said that all four were in fair condition as of Friday afternoon.
The bus, an articulated, 60-foot-long transit bus of the Port Authority of Allegheny County, and five vehicles were crossing the bridge at the time of the collapse, said Port Authority spokesperson Adam Brandolph and city officials. Brandolph added that there were two passengers on the bus, in addition to the driver, at the time. One of the passengers was hospitalized. Read more from AccuWeather.
Subscribe here
