HELL’S KITCHEN — A tractor-trailer uprooted a tree on West 43rd Street Tuesday evening, drawing neighbors and passers-by who stopped to watch as firefighters sawed it apart and removed it piece by piece.
The truck was traveling westbound on the street between Ninth and 10th avenues just after 4:30 p.m. when one of the tree’s branches got caught between the tractor and trailer portions of the truck, actor John Michael Bolger, who lives in nearby Manhattan Plaza, told DNAinfo.
The truck “lifted the tree straight up” and knocked it over, he said.
The FDNY received a call about the truck hitting the tree at 4:41 p.m. Nobody was injured when it fell, a spokesman said.
“It was quite a mess,” said Manhattan Plaza resident Barrett Hong, 66, who arrived at the scene moments after the tree fell.
“Of course, the traffic was all backed up and the cars kept thinking that they would be able to squeeze by, but of course they couldn’t.”
Firefighters cordoned off the block to vehicular traffic soon after they arrived at the scene, he said.
Neighbors and passers-by gathered behind police tape to take photos.
“Does anybody need any firewood?” Bolger, 60, joked.
A police officer at the scene said the tree may have been infested with termites.
“The bottom of the tree was no good,” he said. “The tree just gave way.”
Bolger said he was thankful no one was hurt when the tree fell.
“The firefighters were here in five minutes,” he said. “And it gave everybody something to talk about today."
