Tuesday wasn't bad by New York City standards. Traffic was okay, it wasn't raining and the pedestrians were hurrying to their jobs through the Upper East Side Historic District.
at about 8:45 am, the neighborhood was shaken by an explosion which many thought was an earthquake, but was, in reality, what appears to be the botched suicide attempt of Dr. Nicholas Bartha, an emergency room doctor embroiled in a nasty divorce.
The blast, which issued from the architecturally significant 32 East 62nd Street townhouse, Jennifer Panicali, a 22-year-old Staten Island woman, who was spending the summer working for the NYC Parks Department in Central Park.
Ms. Panicali, who was walking by the structure, was struck by flying glass and wood splinters, required immediate care and was transported to NY Presbyterian Medical Center by FDNY ambulance, where the emergency room docs worked for more than three hours to remove the debris from her hundred wounds. Four other civilians were injured as well.
Calls began to flood the FDNY's Manhattan borough control center and a first alarm was transmitted for Engine 39, Engine 8, Ladder 16, and Battalion Chief 8.
all three companies are in the general neighborhood, with 39 Engine and 16 Ladder coming in from 157 East 67th Street and 8 Engine and Battalion Chief 8 taking the call from 165 East 51st Street. They were on the scene in minutes and went to work in the rubble choked street in the reflected heat of the growing inferno.
Viewing the size of the growing blaze, the threat to the exposures, especially to the high rise apartments on the right, on their arrival, additional alarms were quickly transmitted for additional rigs, manpower and rescue companies, with Rescue 4 being special called from Woodside in Queens to assist in the search for survivors said to be in the burning building.
a third alarm was transmitted at 9:10, a fourth at 9:27, a fifth at 10:14, and a sixth at 12:15, with a total of 228 firefighters called to the scene.
all the adjacent buildings were evacuated as the firefighters began to manhandle hoses towards the burning rubble while the ladder companies began the search and rescue operations.
Deep in the basement, Dr. Bartha lay trapped in the rubble of his own making, beneath the giant pancake of burning debris and gas. after jury rigging, it is now believed by FDNY and NYPD investigators, a valve off the main gas line which he used to fill the basement with the flammable mixture that eventually detonated, brought down his house.
Old Doc Bartha, in addition to e-mailing his estranged wife, also managed to crank off one to Fox News, where he railed about the madness of al Franken, predicted the downfall of america with the future election of Hillary Clinton, in addition to explaining his plans for his own death, and the destruction of the building.
Sadly, the infernal actions of Doctor Bartha, whether he is found to be sane or not, have destroyed a beautiful home, severely injured an innocent young woman on her way to work, put the lives of countless people in jeopardy, injured ten of New York's bravest, who were laying their lives on the line to save him and his neighbors, and cost surrounding businesses countless thousands of dollars in lost revenues when their streets were closed and their shops were shut.
No act of terror, though the results are terrifying nonetheless, this urban fire and explosion have again served to show the fragility of a neighborhood, to highlight the daily bravery of our local firefighters, and illustrate the randomness of the death in our midst, without the feared injection of al-Qaeda and the minions of its terror.
Had this been a terrorist attack, all of the above would be true, save the headlines, the number of dead, both citizens and firefighters alike, and the idiocy of an old man, which would've been replaced with the steely death dealing of our most implacable foes.
Yet, regardless of the wherefores and the whys, the alarm bells will ring, the pumpers will roll, the ladder companies will throw down their jacks on the street and toss their sticks in the air, and guys and gals will go in where people are running out to save lives, extinguish fires and salvage what little bit of our existence they can.
It is unfortunate that Doctor Nicholas Bartha, in his fugue over divorce, in his solipsism and his hatred, and as an emergency room doctor, couldn't remember these critical time lines, rush hour, the pedestrians, the shrapnel, the injured and burned, the wounds, the firefighters, the passing autos, the jammed emergency rooms, the bloody trauma bays, the stress on the families of those sick and hurt, and all the things he went into medicine to combat.
It's too bad that the early morning madness of Doc Bartha cost so many so much. Just as it will cost Doc Bartha everything he has, that is, if he survives the burns and the injuries he sustained until FF. Richard Schust and FF. Charles Weiman of FDNY's Rescue 4 pulled him from his own rubble.
When you hear the sirens and the air horns, think of those who went before, and remember all the boys who died so that others would survive. and when you pass a fire station and see the crew at home, say a quick hello to those who serve where the air's too hot to breathe and the demons hide inside.
http://www.heroesremembered.com/fdnyheroes.html
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