“Every agency imaginable”
Baltimore’s Key Bridge is gone. Its steel trusses and concrete roadbed, mangled and broken by catastrophic failure, lie fifty feet down, at the bottom of the Patapsco River shipping channel. One of its two major pylons struck at 1:30 a.m. by a Singapore-flagged container ship bound for Sri Lanka. The bridge fell in seconds, taking along any car or truck or construction worker that happened to be on it.
Ronald Reagan famously said the government is the problem. He joked that the nine most frightening words in the English language are I’m from the government and I’m here to help. What utter, slime-encrusted bullshit.
Tell that to the men and women who rushed to the scene in the wee hours of a cold morning to rescue those unfortunate souls who’d been dumped into the dark, 48-degree water of the Patapsco, from up as high as a 16-story building. Tell that to their families and loved ones.
I’m blown away by the sheer numbers of highly trained, competent, experienced, brave and selfless people instantly on the scene, from chopper pilots to rescue divers, in the dark, in the murky cold water in zero visibility.
Think of the people operating the sonar to locate vehicles and people. Think of the personnel from fire departments, state police, Coast Guard, Port Authority, DOT, the Mayor, the Governor, the County Executive, the State Transportation Secretary, the FBI. All of them trained and equipped with our tax dollars.
They work for the government. You bet your ass they’re here to help.
Within minutes. In force. They poured onto both shores, they launched boats and helicopters, they set up opps and comms, they press-conferenced. They said It’s too early to speculate and Our focus is on the rescue operation and Now is not the time for that. Baltimore’s Major Scott, a new father in his 30s, looking so young and shell-shocked, said our only focus now is on saving lives.
Someone who works for a government agency set up a place for loved ones to gather while they wait for news.
Someone changed the highway signs. They sat at a computer and typed in, I-695 KEY BRIDGE CLOSED and USE I-695 W TO I-95 N. Probably their boss gave them that assignment.
Someone drew a new map to route trucks carrying hazardous materials around the city, as they are not allowed in the tunnel—a decision made by a government agency to protect people.
I lost count of the different jacket logos at the press conferences. All those people in the freezing pre-dawn dark, on the job.
Especially in times like this, we need them all.
