3 People Injured After FDNY Truck Blows Tire, Shatters Window On Lower East Side
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A bizarre tire blowout shattered nerves and a plate glass window on the Lower East Side on Monday.
As CBS 2's Tony Aiello reported, a fire truck had pulled up tight against a Delancey Street curb around 1:45 p.m. while on a call to inspect a building.
The jagged edge of a metal curb guard ripped open a massive tire, which "correspondingly made the tire explode, and it blew out the window in 160 Delancey St. -- the front store window," said FDNY Chief John Rail.
The air pressure in the tires is 130 pounds per square inch, which might not sound like a lot. But the tires are more than 3 feet high, meaning there is a lot of air inside.
The concentrated blast hit the window and sent glass flying.
"They had three injuries that refused medical attention -- three women, minor cuts," Rail said.
Maria Chimelis, a store clerk at the jeans store with the shattered window, said she thought it was a bomb at first.
"I was like, 'Oh, God!'" she said.
The fire truck, Tower Ladder 18, was out of service for more than two hours until the tire could be changed.
The Department of Transportation was notified to fix the curb guard.
There were no open complaints with the city's 311 hotline about the jagged metal that sliced the tire.
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