1940: 1 Dead, 121 Injured in Train Crash In Mount Vernon

[chiefhac 130]

1 Dead, 121 Injured in Train Crash in Mount Vernon

By chiefhac

And so read the headlines in all the newspapers the morning after the trains collided in Mount Vernon on the evening of June 8, 1973, forty years ago.

The train collision would spark 10 days busy activity for the Mount Vernon Fire Department (MVFD) using all of its resources and with neighboring communities responding to the incident(s) or relocating to staff fire stations.

It was 40 years ago on Friday evening June 8, 1973 at approximately 7:30 PM on a warm spring evening that 2 trains collided on the east bound express track on the New Haven line near Brookdale Place and East First Street. The relocated Mount Vernon East station platform was still under construction and the local track was temporarily out of service, thereby both local and express trains were operating through Mount Vernon on the express track. The local was in the station to disembark passengers when the express train, failing to stop for a red signal, ran head on into the rear of the stopped train.

The fire department was dispatched and upon arrival was met by a thousand or so of people wondering about and attempting to exit both trains. Additional alarms were transmitted and additional manpower was readily available as it was the evening of the volunteer firefighter’s annual inspection and they responded in force. Almost all responding personnel were used in assisting passengers off the train and to those requiring medical assistance, to an aid station and then transported to the local hospitals.

In the rear car of the local train 2 victims were trapped, one dead on arrival, and the other, seriously injured, was pinned in the lavatory of the last car. Rescue 1 and Ladder 1 were assigned to extricate these individuals. The individual in the lavatory was an Australian Consulate to the UN. The extrication required cutting through the floor under where he was located and then smashing the toilet and letting it drop through the opening made in the floor, allowing for his safe removal. A sloppy and time consuming job it was, ask me!

Mutual aid companies responded for a variety of reasons, scene lighting being a major issue, and some companies self dispatched, adding to scene confusion when everyone wants to help. Most of the passengers requiring medical treatment were transported within the first hour or so. For each injured passenger there had to be 10 other passengers whose sole interest was in how they were going to complete their journey to Connecticut and home.

Somewhere in the middle of the week there was a third alarm fire on South Thirteenth or Fourteenth Avenue which consumed 3 attached row apartments.

On Saturday evening June 16 at approximately 7 PM a fire was reported in the Pioneer super market located on Park Avenue and Elm Avenue, just over the Park Avenue Bridge over the New Haven rail line and 2/10ths of a mile from the train crash. The fire would require a general alarm with all MVFD companies operating at the fire scene until after midnight.

On Sunday morning, June 17, around 8 AM fire alarm box 1231 was pulled by a passerby for a fire in the A & P super market located on East First Street and First Avenue, on the other side of the Park Avenue Bridge from the previous night’s fire and 2/10ths of a mile from the train crash. This fire would also require all MVFD companies to bring it under control, with the last units picking up at 4 PM.

I was the assigned driver of the rescue company for the train crash and, back working days, the A & P fire. At approximately 7:45 AM Sunday morning we were dispatched to meet Con Edison at a gas leak at Ninth Avenue and West First Street and en route passed the A & P and did not notice any sign of smoke or fire. When we were called by dispatch to respond on the initial alarm, we couldn’t believe the column of smoke in the air as we headed back down First Street.

Each of these incidents required the full complement of MVFD companies and surrounding mutual aid companies to backfill in Mount Vernon fire stations.

The good news was no fire station commissary was in need of coffee, condiments, etc. for at least 6 months.

And so it was 40 years ago!

chiefhac

6/7/2013

Slideshow of incident:

Edited June 14, 2013 by chiefhac

[R1SmokeEater 359]

Interesting!

How about the train crash in MV a few years back that the cars ended up in the catenaries?

[61MACKBR1 222]

Thanks Chief for bring attention back on a piece of Major Emergency Service History within Westchester County. That specific event back in 1973 in Mount Venon certainly stretched the resources not only of the FDMV but the surrounding areas as well. As you outlined so well in your post, the Mount Vernon Fire Department were certainly tested many many times in the early 1970's, with not only the Train Wreck of June 8th, but as you said, the Pioneer Supermarket Fire, the A&P Supermarket Fire, as well as the massive Fanner Farmer/Bee Hive Restaurant Fire on 4th Avenue. Those were the days when FDMV had Engine 1, Engine 2, Engine 3, Engine 4, Engine 5 and Engine 6, Snorkel 1, Ladder 2, Ladder 3, and Ladder 4, Rescue 1, Foam 1, and Ambulance 1. There was also a very impressive Volunteer Fire Department assisting the paid department in Mount Vernon during those days. Oh how have times have changed.

Finally, historical events such as these, just reminds us all how important County Run Disaster Drills, especially a Southern Westchester County Emergency Response Drill, having communities such as Mount Vernon, Yonkers, New Rochelle, Eastchester, White Plains, Pelham, Pelham Manor, Hastings, Dobbs Ferry, Ardsley, Greenville, Hartsdale, Fairview, Scarsdale, Mamaroneck, Larchmont, Rye, and Port Chester all participating, is so so important.

Really, when was the last time that the County DES led various "Multi Departmental Supported' Disaster Drills throughout various locations within Westchester County?

Maybe Chiefhac's post will light a fire under some in charge within the County DES and get these drills back going again.

[Bnechis 3,961]

Mutual aid companies responded for a variety of reasons, scene lighting being a major issue, and some companies self dispatched, adding to scene confusion when everyone wants to help.

Thanks for the story Chief.

While FD units may have self dispatched, The MVPD sent out a hotline call for "ALL AVAILABLE AMBULANCES" to respond. My understanding is there were still units responding long after the incident was over.

[Bnechis 3,961]

Interesting!

How about the train crash in MV a few years back that the cars ended up in the catenaries?

That would have been in 1985 (I think)

Train #1 was empty (on Track #2, if memory serves) and parked. Train #2 was moving toward Pelham with just an engineer & conductor. Lucky the train was empty because 15 minutes or so later both would have been full of NYC bound morning commuters.

The engineer ran a red signal. It was believed he did not see it because he was reading the news paper & facing backwards.

They hit the parked train and went up over it. (I'm looking for my photos) it was an awsume sight.

[tommyguy 104]

I think the later crash referred to involved two empty Metro-North trains which collided near the Bronx-Mt. Vernon border on April 6, 1988.

The first train had stopped due to a problem with the catenary grounding. He was ordered to stop and inspect his train. The engineer of a second train, following the first on the same track, was ordered to inspect the catenary. A witness, who stopped to look at the first train -- he lived nearby and said he'd never seen a train stop there before -- said the second train suddenly came into view and slammed almost full speed into the first train.

The only fatality was the engineer of the second train.

I passed the area several hours after the collision, which happened about 8 00 AM, and could not believe my eyes.

I always wondered about the response to that collision because of the area. Yonkers, Mt. Vernon and New York City are all in very close proximity to one another there. Did Yonkers and FDNY respond too?

[chiefhac 130]

The April 6, 1988 response was handled by Mount Vernon FD with no respnse from other departments. Both trains were carrying just train crew personnel when the first train was rammed by the second that had run a red signal. Coincidentally, this incident was 25 years ago this past April.

[tommyguy 104]

Thanks Chief.

Back in 1988 I used to commute from the Bronx to White Plains, walking across the South Street bridge over Metro-North to get to South MacQuesten Parkway and the Mt. Vernon West train station. When I stopped for coffee that morning on White Plains Road an officer from NYPD's 47th Precinct was talking about a crash between two New Haven trains. He said it was a very severe high-speed collision. I was stunned. He mentioned there were few injuries or fatalities because the trains were empty.

I always wondered if FDNY or NYPD had responded. Now, after all these years, I finally know. Thanks again.