It was witnessed that a dozen contractors attacked the wreck of the “Big Timber” with chain saws and torches, dismantling the abandoned, partially sunken vessel that slammed into the north side of the bridge Tuesday evening. A contractor for Flatiron Construction of Benicia watched the whole operation saying that this thing was very well built. The trawler crashed into the bridge during Tuesday’s wind storm, after the boat’s transmission apparently failed and the skipper lost control.
Caltrans spokeswoman Lauren Wonder said that the boat, which had embarked from Oyster Point in South San Francisco, crashed into the bridge just east of the high-rise and bounced about a mile toward Hayward, taking out three light poles and three call boxes and denting an additional eight light poles. Lauren also said that the boat finally came to rest against a concrete piling about 3 miles west of the toll plaza, running aground in the 4-foot-deep bay.
According to Caltrans the U.S. Coast Guard rescued a man, woman and dog aboard the boat, and a third person escaped by climbing up the steel mast, which had snagged on a light pole, hopping onto the bridge shoulder. It remains unclear how much diesel fuel might have leaked from the vessel; the owner said he thought the tanks contained about 4,000 gallons, but the Coast Guard pumped only about 1,300 gallons of diesel from the boat.
It is said that the boat’s owner, Tom Lacey of San Francisco, will probably be responsible for the damage to the bridge and the cost of removing his boat, which contractors hope to finish today. The total cost could be $500,000, says Lauren.
