Trees: The Silent Killer

And like an invasion of B-movie zombies, they die, lay in wait, and strike when you least expect it:

A Queens tree branch that neighbors had complained was rotten came crashing down on power lines Thursday, sparking a stubborn blaze that destroyed a church, witnesses said.

The Deeper Life Christian Fellowship Church on 111th St. in Richmond Hill caught fire when the limb collapsed onto the wires and a car.

“It caused a chain reaction,” said a neighborhood resident who gave her name only as Adel. “It kept popping like a firecracker,” she said. “It was a crackling of electricity.”

Somebody Obviously Huffed A Ton Of White Out In Grade School . . .

When you put it this way, the contamination in Newtown Creek seems almost pleasant:

Investigators probing a toxic underground chemical plume in Greenpoint have discovered groundwater with levels of a cancer-causing cleaning solvent more than 14 million times the state standard.

“We got hit in the face with it before we got our gear on,” said state Department of Environmental Conservation project manager David Harrington, adding that water contaminated with PCE splashed out while his crew was doing repair work.

“It smelled like White-Out times a thousand with a lot of sugar thrown in for a couple seconds until my nasal lining burned out,” he said. “That’s pure product.”

Location Scout: Newtown Creek.

Imagine Just How Much Worse This Could Have Been If The Mayor Had Had His Way About Traffic

The bad news is that the accelerating Toyota scare has apparently reached the five boroughs. The good news is that you can’t really get that far in New York City:

A Queens World War II veteran said he and his wife became the latest victims of Toyota accelerator woes when his 2009 Camry’s gas pedal jammed — sending the car careening into a synagogue.

Wait, That’s What Those Things Are For?

If I saw a fire, I don’t think I would ever think to look for one of those things, much less know how to use it:

Since 85% of calls made through the street boxes are false alarms, Bloomberg said, “In the days where everybody has cell phones … the city would be just as safe without them.”

Only 140 structural fires last year out of 26,666 were first called in through an alarm box – and phone calls on those fires came in after the boxes were pulled, according to the FDNY.

(Wow, I’m scared that I actually agree with the mayor on this . . .)

Let’s Get The Acme Corporation To Smoke This Super Genius . . .

When it comes to coyotes invading Queens, nature must lose the battle:

Maybe, somewhere in the more wooded areas around Rochdale Village, maybe . . . the creature lurks. Traps have been set. But people, like Darnell Brunston have already taken pictures. And they’re not waiting to be told what it is. They’re giving it a name.

“I saw him the other night. He’s taller than me when he stands up on his two hind legs. That is a coyote! I’m a country boy from Georgia. That’s exactly what it is,” resident Richard Howard said.

. . .

Animal Control officers have set up a series of traps. They think they’re going to find a stray dog. But you never know.

. . .

“There are people who park in that lot who have small children. Can you imagine you put your stroller to the side, you’re putting your baby in, and the coyote . . . you turn around, and the coyote’s in your stroller?” added resident Tiffany Arrington.

Officials want to see everything before they determine if it is indeed a coyote. But when you talk to folks here they are convinced it is.