YAHOO/WWJ RADIO: Seagull Crashes Through Chopper 950 Window

NOTE: Bill Szumanski is a friend, a fellow former student at Denby High School in Detroit, and a good guy. Fortunately, this incident is one that came out okay for everyone except the bird.

Southfield (WWJ) -- An unwelcome passenger aboard Chopper 950 Thursday morning. WWJ Newsradio 950 Traffic Reporter Bill Szumanski was in the helicopter when a seagull crashed through a window and landed between his feet.

The pilot of the chopper, Joel Alexander, throttled down to a safer speed.

"Because of the wind that is rushing in through the open window, you really don't want maintain the hundred, 115 miles per hour we would normally be at," Szumanski said shortly after the helicopter landed.

Listen to what Szumanski told WWJ's Roberta Jasina and Joe Donovan: AUDIO

The bubble of the chopper is made of plexiglass.

Everyone in the chopper is okay, except for the seagull who unfortunately was killed. The aircraft will be out of commission for a few days while repairs are made.

FAS: Secrecy Shuts Down Briefing on 2008 Chem Accident

Government safety investigators canceled a public briefing about an August 28, 2008 explosion that killed two persons at a chemical plant in Institute, West Virginia after operators of the plant said that public discussion of the accident could jeopardize “sensitive security information.”

Bayer CropScience, which runs the plant, told the U.S. Chemical Safety Board that relevant information about the plant is protected from public disclosure under the terms of the Maritime Transportation Security Act of 2002, as interpreted by U.S. Coast Guard regulations.

The Board, which is an independent federal agency that investigates industrial accidents, canceled the March 19 public meeting while it seeks to evaluate the Bayer secrecy claims. See “Board Cancels Hearing Under Bayer Pressure” by Ken Ward, Jr., The Charleston Gazette, February 25, 2009.

On their face, the Bayer secrecy claims do not seem well-founded.

USA TODAY: Photo: 59 vehicles in massive N.H. pileup

Jan Seeger of the Eagle-Tribune, via AP, took this photograph after dozens of vehicles crashed yesterday morning on Interstate 93 in Derry, N.H. "Some cars were so impacted that we needed a wrecker on either end to pull them apart," State Police Sgt. Paul Hunt tells the Union Leader.

BOSTON HERALD: Fire commish not confident in fleet

Three days after a hero jake lost his life to what investigators believe were faulty brakes, the Boston fire commissioner says he can’t rule out another tragedy on the aging department trucks while the union lays the blame on Mayor Thomas M. Menino.

“Under the Menino administration, changes were made in how we replace apparatus,” Boston Firefighters Local 718 President Edward Kelly told the press yesterday, “and quite frankly we feel it was that detriment to public safety that killed Lt. (Kevin M.) Kelley.”

Reached by phone and asked whether he was confident in the safety of his fleet and that another similar tragedy would not occur, Commissioner Roderick J. Fraser Jr. told the Herald, “No, I can’t be confident in that.”

AP: Boston fire truck smashes into building; 1 dead

BOSTON – A Boston Fire Department ladder truck coming down a hill plowed through an intersection Friday and crashed into a high-rise apartment building, killing one firefighter and seriously injuring a second.

Dozens firefighters bowed their heads and held their helmets over their hearts as they created a pathway for the body of one firefighter — covered in a black body bag on a stretcher — to be carried from the wreckage and put into an ambulance.

The truck was returning from a medical call when it barreled down the steep Parker Hill Avenue, went through the intersection at Huntington Avenue and slammed into the building, said Fire Department spokesman Steve MacDonald.

Lt. Kevin Kelley, 52, of Quincy, a 30-year veteran supervisor riding in the truck's front seat, died at the scene, MacDonald said. Another firefighter aboard had a broken leg and two others had minor injuries. He said another firefighter helping at the scene suffered a broken ankle.