Just Wait Here A Minute...Or Thirty

We responded to an auto accident just down the street from the station. It was on a one lane road right at the only intersection for a couple of blocks. With the siren cranked up and the lights flashing the cars ahead of me actually pulled to the right for once.

There was still barely room to squeak by. As I got to the scene I saw two vehicles with moderate damage and one patient lying on the sidewalk and being supported by a bystander.
My only real option to protect the scene and ourselves was to "take the lane" and block the road.

I felt bad for the people who pulled over and did what they were supposed to just to have me turn in front of them and block the only lane in their direction. There were only a few cars back there and I assumed that PD would turn them around and then close the road. That apparently didn't happen.

We dealt with patient care, spread absorbent down to catch the leaking fluids (from the cars, not the patients), disconnected battery cables, swept up glass and spare parts (again from vehicles not patients) and waited for the tow trucks. I was putting tools away on the traffic side of the engine when I noticed that the few cars had turned into twenty or more and were stretched all the way down the block and around the bend. The flatbeds were arriving to remove the cars and there was really no where for the cars to go but I still hustled back to the front of the engine to get away from the stares and questioning looks.

All in all these cars sat behind my engine on a residential street for about 35 minutes without even an option to bail out or turn around. Sorry about that folks. Cost of doing business I guess.