Clearance Issues

I was sent out as soon as I stepped into the building this morning. It's been pretty slow the past few weeks so I've been looking for something to happen overnight. My assignment desk guy Russ, called and told me he thought he'd heard of a shooting. He sent me out to the RTA rapid station at Superior and Euclid avenues in East Cleveland.

I left the station and headed off to the scene. I took the quickest way that I knew of to get there. I wasn't driving my usual Unit 2 live truck. It was out with generator issues so I grabbed our newest truck which has the highest mast clearance of twelve feet. I really didn't think anything of it until I got close to where the RTA tracks cut through neighborhoods. They're elevated and I need to pass under the tracks. The small underpasses are old tunnels or small bridges that aren't built for taller vehicles.

My first route took me under the tracks at an underpass that was said to be twelve foot clearance. My truck is twelve foot tall so, I had to turn around. At least this underpass was marked. I wasn't so fortunate at my detour route. I came to the next underpass and it wasn't marked. Plus the streetlights and the lights in the underpass were out, making it very suspect to say the least. No sign to tell me what the clearance was so, I turned around yet again.

I tried four other underpasses and they all were the identical of each other. Not marked and dark. I had to go close to a mile and a half out of my way to get to the scene. But I decided that ripping a mast out of a live truck was not the way to start a Monday off. And waking up on a Tuesday, jobless isn't a much better prospect. I'm sure that I did the right thing by not trying my luck on one of those underpasses. If it meant going five miles out of my way, I'd still do it.