The Garden City and New Hyde Park Fire Departments were alerted on October 8, 2016, for an LIRR accident and derailment near Merrilon Avenue. First arriving units found an eastbound passenger train had collided with a westbound LIRR work truck. The collision knocked part of the truck off the tracks and derailed the second and third cars of the train injuring almost three dozen people, several seriously. Mutual aid requests went out across Nassau County for multiple ambulances and other apparatus. Nearly two-dozen fire departments, Nassau County Haz-Mat, Nassau County Police, Nassau County Police Ambulance Bureau and Emergency Service Unit, MTA Police and LIRR officials responded to the scene. The injured were taken off the train via ladders and Stoke’s baskets and transported to local hospitals. Units were on scene for several hours. The cause of the accident is under investigation.
– Fire News photos by Paul Mazza and Edmund Coppa
