Pittsburgh EMS chief recounts swift, selfless response to Fern Hollow Bridge collapse

Pittsburgh EMS District Chief Antwain Carter said he found the emergency dispatch hard to believe at first.

A dispatcher came over the radio and said a woman had called screaming, reporting that Pittsburgh’s Fern Hollow Bridge had collapsed at Forbes and South Braddock avenues. Carter looked at the other district chief in the room.

“We were sort of shaking our heads ‘no’ and trying to wrap our heads around what bridge other than the Fern Hollow Bridge they could be referring to. Maybe a pedestrian bridge? Maybe a footbridge? Maybe a walkway bridge that was in the park?” Carter recalled in a phone interview Thursday.

As more calls came in, Carter said it became clear the city was dealing with a collapse of Fern Hollow Bridge, a 447-foot span of Forbes Avenue that carries traffic over a portion of Frick Park.

Soon, Carter would find himself at one end of the crumpled bridge, serving as one of the top links in a chain of people helping rescuers and victims up the steep sides of the ravine.

Carter said that when he arrived on scene, he didn’t have the luxury of taking in the magnitude of what had happened. Port Authority police officers and fire crews already were working their way down the steep ravine. Carter said he could see headlight beams from the vehicles below.

“When I got out of the vehicle, the smell of natural gas was so intense, I want to say you could taste it,” he said. “It was something that I’ll probably never forget.”

Carter said the sound of gas rushing from a ruptured pipe wasn’t quite as loud as a train whistle, but it was close. The gas, combined with reports of a smoking car, sparked fears of an explosion.

“In the back of my mind, ‘kaboom’ was a possibility,” he said, before adding that “failure was not an option.”

“I feared failure to the public more than I feared for my own safety,” Carter said. “We had people depending on us.”

Pittsburgh Public Safety has compiled photos of first responders in action at the scene of the Fern Hollow Bridge collapse on Friday, January 28 and the days that followed.

See more photos on our Facebook page ➡️ https://t.co/xSTtJNVQok pic.twitter.com/KanhVPJq6h

— Pittsburgh Public Safety (@PghPublicSafety) February 3, 2022

A Port Authority of Allegheny County bus and four passenger vehicles were on the bridge when it collapsed about 6:40 a.m. Friday, shortly before the start of rush hour. Emergency personnel from throughout the county responded.

When Carter arrived, first responders already had made their way down the steep ravine and were trying to bring the injured people who could walk — the driver and two passengers on the Port Authority bus — up the hillside.

Those helping made a human chain.

“A chain of guys (were) pulling each other up the hill, assisting each other up the hill like a daisy chain to get the victims as well as the rescuers (up the hillside),” Carter said.

As the incident commander, Carter’s job after he assessed the situation was to stay out of any rescue operations and coordinate. He likened his role to that of a conductor leading an orchestra.

“All the additional resources and leadership and experts that arrived there made the job so much easier,” he said. “Like I said, I’m conducting, but I don’t play the oboe. That’s the guy’s job who knows how to play the oboe.”

But Carter said he broke that rule when he saw flashlights and realized crews were struggling on their way back up. He said he went down about a quarter of the way and helped them to the top. Three officers ended up being evaluated just because of the exertion it took to get victims and themselves up the hill.

Those caught in the collapse who could not walk on their own were ferried into two pickups that responders brought to the scene and drove onto the trail. They were taken to an ambulance.

As dawn broke, Carter said he was able to appreciate the “total destruction” of the bridge.

Carter said he had been certain there would be fatalities and critically injured patients. While 10 people were injured — something Carter said should not be diminished — no one died.

“Whether you’re religious or spiritual, it touched you,” Carter said.

“The reality of this is, it’s a lot of people working very hard that made this possible, that made sure that the people that were injured got to the hospital,” he added. “The story isn’t about District Chief Carter; the story is about Pittsburgh’s Public Safety and the unity and hard work that was generated selflessly.

”I’m just a conductor, but that orchestra played. They played.”