Riders Get Smoked at Clark Street Station

By on October 28, 2011 11:10 am in Brooklyn Heights

This just in from a BHB tipster:

This morning around 9:45 or so at the Clark Street subway station, a couple of firemen were standing by the elevators. Various people including myself were asking: “Are the subways running? Is it okay to go down there?” The firemen responded “Yeah, sure” with every query. When we got down there, there was a platoon of firemen on the platform. Five minutes later, clouds of smoke and dust came blowing through the tunnel, and the subway was of course delayed. My hair was covered in black dust, I’ve been coughing all morning, and black snot is coming out of my nose. Thanks Mr Firemen for the heads up!

Wowza. Anyone else there for this excitement today?

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  • Willow St. Neighbor

    I was on the subway platform at about 9:30AM waiting for a train into Manhattan when along came the firemen to check out smoke in the tunnel. I overheard them say that the same situation existed last night but that they could not detect anything. Then I overheard them say that a supervisor would be riding the train into the city to check things out. Since I was only going into the city to shop I decided that I should probably go home. I did and now I am glad.

  • Western Brooklyn

    I’ve noticed that firemen, & especially police officers, typically have a hostile, adversarial, or disdainful attitude towards the general public, who they are supposed to protect & serve.

    P.S. I hope there wasn’t any PVC burning down there–very toxic!

  • AL

    Sorry to say I agree with Western Brooklyn. Am at a loss to understand when police officers treat me and others disdainfully, especially since my natural instinct is to have an attitude of gratitude towards them and I always approach
    them respectfully.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UlsiLOnWCoI Arch Stanton

    I’m not sorry to agree with Western Brooklyn. Most cops are on a BS power trip and love to get off on any opportunity to dominate a “lowly civilian”. A couple of them I know were the dumb a** bullies in the neighborhood, when they were kids. “New York’s finest” what a f**k’n joke.

  • Andrew Porter

    The off-duty officers who attended the arraignment in the Bronx for their fellow officers in the ticket-fixing case set civilian/NYPD relations back by a decade. Big, beefy, overweight guys who could afford to lose some weight and some attitude.

    Being a police officer or fire fighter is not for those who want an intellectually challenging career.

  • Knight

    Most of the cops I’ve known or met have been on ego trips and I shake my head at the fact that some of them carry guns. But it’s not like any fireman I’ve known to do something like the “tipster” described … especially any of the guys in the Middagh Street firehouse. I’ve lived here for about 8 years and I’ve never considered them anything less than a class act, especially when in uniform. I doubt that the firemen upstairs would have let anyone go down if they thought there was any chance of what was described happening. They’re really a great group of folks.

  • Knight

    Andrew, I live on the 14th floor. If (God forbid) my building ever catches fire, I don’t want an intellectual coming to try to rescue me. I’d welcome a Neanderthal if he’d get me to the ground safely!

  • Master Of Middagh

    With cops you get the good, the bad and the ugly; as in any profession, if you think about it. I can’t claim a broad experience in dealings with law enforcement and the fire department, but I’ve been friends with fellows in that line whose nobility and commitment to their calling is heroic- and they aren’t bullies. True, I’ve met a couple of officers who have been downright surly, but anyone can have a crummy day.

    It can help if, rather than approaching them with the attitude of a supplicant, you manifest the bearing of being their superior. NEVER impersonate what you are not (that’s illegal); I only mean to suggest that an aura of confidence and authority can inspire people to treat you accordingly if you catch them with the right timing (or if they aren’t too bright).

  • David on Middagh

    To the anonymous tipster: If I had been in your place, I too would have gone down and tried to make my train. And gotten smoked up.

    Doesn’t it seem like the firemen answered as truthfully as possible? After all, the subways were still running just until they weren’t, and (based on Willow Street Neighbor’s comment) there was no reason to believe anyone was in immediate danger.

  • Bette

    Can only say that all the Firemen I have every encountered in NYC/Brooklyn have been wonderful. Professional, intense, focused. Also, very cute. Last week a brake virtually exploded on a 4 train I was on. The train slammed to a stop with two huge bangs (fellow riders told me they thought it was a bomb). A shower of sparks flew up between the carriage doors and smoke filled the car. We all rose, covering our noses with our coats, crossing over into the next car in the hopes of avoiding the smoke. No panic, but certainly fear in those eyes. Fortunately, the smoke dissipated.

    Sat for about 20 anxious minutes (under the East River) until they pulled another train up to ours and off-loaded us onto the new train. The new train was packed with firemen, with axes, picks, oxygen and grim faces and they guided us out.

    All I could think of was the fact that firemen are always going in the opposite logical direction of disaster. We are running out, and they are running in. Of course I thought of all those guys on 9/11.

  • Sara

    The fireman were already when I arrived there at 9:15 am. It didn’t seem particularly smokey but I saw an older gentelman on a stretcher – I don’t know what happened to him. Anyone know?

  • Jules

    Yes… This morning at 8:55 AM, I was about to run down the stairs at Clark when an older man became disoriented, closed his eyes and collapsed in front of me. His glasses broke and he fell on his side — his head hitting the floor. He was bleeding out of his head and someone called for help while we tried to apply pressure to the head. The EMTs came and took him away around 9:25 or so. It was rather traumatic to watch, and hope that he is going to be okay. One EMT said that they were taking him to LICH.

    If anyone knows and 80-yr-old man named Larry, please pass on my well wishes.