Crane collapses at Chelsea construction site, narrowly missing home

CHELSEA - People who live in a Chelsea neighborhood feel fortunate after no one was hurt when a crane fell over at a construction site Tuesday morning and nearly hit a home.

It happened around 7:20 a.m. near a two-family house on 6th Street as the operator was trying to lower a 30-foot steel beam.

No one was hurt, but the driver was "visibly shaken up," according to Deputy Fire Chief Michael Masucci. The home was evacuated as a precaution.

"The boom of the crane missed the back of the house by probably 10 feet," Masucci told reporters. "The boom just missed the house. We would have had people trapped in the house. The alternative, we don't even want to think about."

There's no word yet on what caused the crane to collapse. 

The neighborhood is heavily travelled, with the MBTA Silver Line and commuter rail nearby. There are also high voltage lines in the area. 

"Everybody on this construction site was very lucky the way it landed. If it was to land anywhere, that was the right spot to land by the looks of it," Masucci said.

Police blocked off the street and inspectors from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) were called in.

"The house shook. It definitely shook. So I came outside really quickly to check and I saw the machine," one man who lives in the neighborhood said.

The crane fell at a $34 million project that aims to create 62 affordable new homes with easy access to the MBTA's Silver Line.

With work on hold, some neighbors are on edge.

"I don't know how that happened. Human mistake. I don't know," one woman said.

It's the latest in a string of dangerous incidents involving cranes in the city. One fell onto a construction site last month in Brighton, and in December a worker was killed when he fell off a crane at the Conley Terminal in South Boston. Last summer, a crane collapsed into a building under construction in Dorchester.

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