It was still cool anyway, having an ambulance right on the playground.

[diamondcutter]

Mrs. Cooney called for an ambulance on her cell phone, and it arrived just a couple of minutes later. Some guys got out, and they put Miss Small on a stretcher and carried it into the ambulance. We asked them to put their siren on when they drove to the hospital, but they wouldn’t. It was still cool anyway, having an ambulance right on the playground.

Source: Miss Small Is off the Wall, Dan Gutman

I think the last sentence means this. Am I right?

It was still cool anyway because we had an ambulance right on the playground.

Is “having an ambulance right on the playground” a dangling structure? Grammatically its subject is “it” but that doesn’t make sense.

 

[Tarheel]

First, I would say they put the patient into the ambulance.

I don't notice a dangling structure. The sentence looks fine to me. (The phrase "having an ambulance on the playground" refers to what's "cool".)

 

[diamondcutter]

Maybe it's better to change the comma to a dash, making the phrase "having an ambulance on the playground" an explanation.

It was still cool anyway--having an ambulance right on the playground.

 

[tedmc]

You don't need a dash. It is a participial phrase to modify "cool".

 

[diamondcutter]

What about the subject of the sentence "it" refers to the participial phrase "having an ambulance on the playground"?

 

[tedmc]

"It" is a dummy subject.

 

[Phaedrus]

What about the subject of the sentence "it" refers to the participial phrase "having an ambulance on the playground"?

Yes, it does. This is called Right Dislocation.

For normal, dummy/anticipatory-"it" extraposition, we would use an infinitival rather than a nominal -ing phrase:

It was still cool anyway to have an ambulance right on the playground.

Notice that, in that revision, there is no comma between "anyway" and the infinitival clause.