Hey, there! Log in / Register
Five years
By adamg on Sun, 04/15/2018 - 9:59am
Ad:
Support Universal Hub
Help keep Universal Hub going. If you like what we're up to and want to help out, please consider a (completely non-deductible) contribution.
Comments
First link is a 404.
First link is a 404.
Fixed
Sorry about that.
Five years ago
Around 2:50 pm, Adam posted a tweet saying there were reports of an explosion on Boylston Street. I was skeptical b/c I always think people overreact to things that turn out to be nothing. I turned on the TV and they were reporting on the Marathon unaware of what had happened. I'd say it was a good 3 minutes before they knew what was happening and changed their focus to the finish line.
It wasn't until they ran video of the actual bombings that I was like, "Oh. No."
We lived on Tremont Street. I wanted to run over right then but Terry was home and I knew he'd stop me. I just wanted to see it for myself.
That block of Boylston Street was practically my 2nd home for a period of years because I'd go into the Starbucks on a near-daily basis.
Um, yeah, I didn't believe it at first, either
Went from a photo of Ray Flynn running the Marathon when he was mayor right to "Cannon sounding boom" at the finish line. Remember, the Back Bay had been having problems with electrical systems that year, so maybe manholes were shorting out and blowing up? I turned on my scanner just in time to hear somebody from BFD calling out a "mass casualty event." And it just kept getting worse.
Universal Hub tweets on April 15, 2013.
I worked in the Longwood Medical Area
and it was non-stop sirens. Total shock. Gave me flashbacks to all the sirens on 9/11, when I was in NYC right by a fire house and a Red Cross blood bank.
Since then, I work from home on Patriot's Day. The one day I was at work, I had panic attacks every time I heard a siren (and they're frequent when you work in the midst of several major hospitals).
Sirens/Helicopters
I walked to work that morning up Comm Ave, through Kenmore and BU so got to see some of the wheelchair racers. The many college students thronging to Fenway and the race were quite....riotous..so at the office when I started hearing sirens I thought maybe there had been an accident and didn't pay a lot of attention. It was only later, after becoming aware that the sound of helicopters had become constant, that I checked news reports, started texting and emailing, etc. Tried to keep getting some work done while absorbing events and waiting to hear when/if the T would resume operations. The account I will always remember is a reporter tweeting that runners who had finished the race ran to MGH to give blood.
T Buses
Interesting about the T buses being brought it to block the Marathon route. Are e!ergency buses kept in reserve for such occurrences?
Storify is closing down
FYI Storify is closing down in May - be sure to save this as pdf or another format so it is not lost! And thank you for posting this.
On the T
I was on my way home from work on the B line. We were going very slow down Comm. Ave towards Kenmore, but I just assumed that was because the green line is always so crowded on marathon day. Then someone nearby said 'explosion' as they were looking at their phone. I pulled out my phone and did a search on twitter, and the seriousness dawned on me slowly as I read, including a photo taken from a window above one of the bomb sites. I got off the train two stops from Kenmore and started walking. Everyone was looking at their phones. At Kenmore the runners were still slowly jogging, but then shortly stopped as it backed up from ahead. I let a runner use my phone - her family was waiting for her at the finish line; she couldn't get through (everyone was trying to make calls). It was very surreal. I remember there were lots of rumors on twitter about other bombs being found, and warnings to not congregate in crowded places. I started walking towards home, and eventually got a ride.
I was on the other coast
I had a conference to work - and was in the poster session when the murmur arose and spread through the room. I was hoping that it was just a propane grill flare up or something routine ...
I finished my work and checked my phone - and knew that it was near where friends had been posting pictures.
I went for a walk around the block and came in the other door of the hotel and was snagged by a couple of our researchers who were hanging in the bar - one of whom had an emergency feed from BFD going (daughter of brass). The beer was what I needed to focus.
My son, who was with me, was frantically messaging with friends who were caught between the bombs. Go inside! Stay down! He would be up all night, burning through all our data plans on all three phones, skyping with them. It would be another day until we got through to his brother, safely in Italy and ten time zones away.
The next morning I saw what they saw and what no one should see. There was a bank of foreign newspapers near the hotel, each with a completely gruesome scene on it. One of the friends, uninjured, was trying to navigate the carnage. I realized what those friends had seen, and breakfast defied gravity ...
That day in San Francisco, everyone who had ever run that marathon was wearing their jacket.
5
Was listening to NY radio station that afternoon and the host said there was an explosion near the finish line, at first I thought a manhole cover, you don't expect a terrorist act.
Stood next to him for most of
Stood next to him for most of that day - his memory will live on...
Martin's teach is a good friend of mine
Still is, and I'd like to wish her and her team MR8 the best of luck with today's race. She's been racing in his honor ever since the tragedy and I couldn't be more proud of her. I remember her telling me how that photo, that one that was being showed all around the world was taken in her class, and how down and hurt she was about happened to him, his family, and the entire city that day. Check out the team_mr8 page on Instagram to learn more and support.
I was home 5 years ago and
I was home 5 years ago and watched the race and the explosion on tv. They did not show the effects of the bombs on peoples' bodies. It still makes me angry when I hear people argue it wasn't real it was staged.
I think the record shows that we don't know who built the bombs that were detonated on Boylston Street. At the same time, the FBI believes that the perpetrators built smaller pipe bombs that they used after in the attack on Patriots Day. If this is true it would be good for the FBI to make this information public.
R.I.H
Choose Kindness and do More!
PEACE
~Martin Richard
We all ❤❤❤ and Miss You Sweet Angel!
Thank You for your insight baby boy Love and Peace