Family narrowly escapes injury when a crane truck crashes into N.S. home

NORTH SMITHFIELD – A Pound Hill Road family is lucky to be alive after a crane that was being used to remove trees in their backyard tipped upright sending the arm of the crane crashing through the home just feet from where they were sitting in the family room.

“It was like an explosion. Like someone threw a hand grenade through the window,” said homeowner Jack A. Fandetti, who was inside his 159 Pound Hill Road home watching television with his wife, Cheryl, and their college-age son when the accident oc- curred.

According to Fandetti, a crew with Mike’s Professional Tree Service out of Coventry had been working all day to remove trees when the accident happened around 3 o’clock Monday.

“We hired them to cut some tree and

somehow the crane flipped backward and the arm came crashing through my house,” he said. “Glass and debris were flying everywhere. We both grabbed my son and jumped away from the sofa.”

Fandetti says they were less than eight feet away from where the crane came through the family room, which is part of an addition the family completed about two years ago. The impact caused a gaping hole.

“We’re not sure what happened. Maybe the extension of the boom was out too far and there was too much weight?” he said. “I’m not really sure.”

Fire and police crews arrived at the scene and a special truck was used to upright the crane.

Luckily, no one – including the crane operator – was hurt in the accident. And while the accident did cause significant damage, Fandetti knows how lucky they are.

“No one was injured so that’s the main thing,” he said.

Fandetti says he’s hired the company before.

“They’ve always done great work for us,” he said. “This is difficult for us and I’m sure for them, as well.”

The North Smithfield building inspector was also on hand to survey the damage and make sure the rest of the house is structurally sound. The family said it was planning to stay at a hotel Monday night until everything is sorted out

“This was my son’s first day home from college for summer break and this isn’t how we expected to spend the day,” she said.

Photo by Joseph Fitzgerald A crane truck tipped over in the yard of this home on Pound Hill Road in North Smithfield. One of the truck’s stabilizing outriggers crashed into the home’s family room, just a few feet from where the residents were sitting at the time.

Photo by Joseph Fitzgerald No one was injured when this crane truck tipped over and smashed into a Pound Hill Road home on Monday afternoon.