Diamond Hill Road on a January morning is mostly no-starts. The triple-deckers up through Fairmount and Constitution Hill sit on grades steep enough that a tired battery is a lost cause, and there's rarely room to swing a truck. The fleet here runs older than Providence's, so it's more breakdown work than crash work — jumps, lockouts, hauling off cars that finally quit.
Route 146 brings us up the valley, a half-hour run. Near the falls and the flood walls the streets narrow fast, and Bernon and the Social District have blocks where a flatbed needs parking carefully.
Working the hills above the Blackstone
Can you get a flatbed onto the narrow streets off Social Street?
Usually. On the tighter blocks we stage on the wider cross street and winch the car out rather than back in. Tell dispatch your cross street and whether it's one-way.
My car won't start and it's parked facing uphill. Is that a problem?
No. If a jump gets it running, that's the cheapest outcome and we try it first. If it's dead beyond that, we winch it off the grade instead of dragging it.