Twin-Size Mattress Ignites Bus, Six Cars in Bay Ridge

April 6, 2012 Brooklyn Eagle Staff

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Almost exactly 100 years after the RMS Titanic was sunk by an improbably destructive iceberg, an MTA New York City bus was retired by a single twin-size mattress.

A blaze Thursday night in Bay Ridge that brought down an S53 bus along with six parked cars is being blamed on a discarded spring mattress that the bus ran over as it left Staten Island via the Verrazano Bridge, according to the Daily News.

As the bus dragged the mattress across the bridge at around 10:30 p.m., one of the bed’s metal springs apparently punctured the underside of the gas tank, as reported by the News. Aware of a problem, the bus driver pulled over in Bay Ridge to evacuate passengers and the bus went up in flames soon after.

Witnesses who spoke to the News claim that a trail of leaking fuel spread the fire to nearby parked cars on Dahlgren Place near 92nd Street, eventually torching six of them.

No one was injured and firefighters had the blaze under control by about 11:15 p.m., according to officials who spoke to the Eagle.

The night’s only casualties were the vehicles. Mike Rabo, 27, one of the bereaved car owners, told the News, “It was a really bad feeling watching my BMW burn.”