Tanker Explodes

**Detroitej72** · July-15-09, 07:53 PM

http://www.wxyz.com/news/local/story...wo2l2ybSA.cspx

I-75/ 9 Mile...Bridge appears to have collapsed...More to come...

**Whaler** · July-15-09, 07:55 PM

Man this sounds serious..

**Meddle** · July-15-09, 08:00 PM

Always hated that big curve.

**Detroitej72** · July-15-09, 08:05 PM

My fiancÃ©e alerted me to it, she was in the area. I'm stuck in Indiana till Friday for work, and this was the last thing I wanted to hear...glad she's OK, hope nobody else was hurt or killed, especially the driver...

**Alley** · July-15-09, 08:03 PM

There are giant billows of black smoke pouring into the sky behind my house [[in Hazel Park). My neighbor went to check it out and said the whole 9mile/75 bridge is on fire. What a crazy day for explosions in Hazel Park. I hope the tanker driver, as well as the other cars involved, fare as lucky as the family who's house on E. Maxlow blew to bits earlier

**Detroitej72** · July-15-09, 08:07 PM

Originally Posted by Alley

What a crazy day for explosions in Hazel Park. I hope the tanker driver is as lucky as the family who's house on E. Maxlow blew to bits earlier

There were more explosions?

Smoke is visible from the in-laws in Sterling Heights around 16 Mile and Dodge Park.

**313WX** · July-16-09, 05:22 AM

Originally Posted by Detroitej72

There were more explosions?

Smoke is visible from the in-laws in Sterling Heights around 16 Mile and Dodge Park.

At it's peak, I saw the smoke here on the far eastside [[7 Mile & Hoover).

It did rain roughly a half hour before the accident occurred, so it's possible the wet pavement may have contributed to the accident.

**RO_Resident** · July-15-09, 08:06 PM

The 9 Mile bridge was just worked on recently.
http://maps.google.com/?ie=UTF8&ll=4...45.41,,0,-7.82

**Alley** · July-15-09, 08:14 PM

A natural gas leak caused a house on E. Maxlow to explode in Hazel Park this morning. The house is demolished. A mother and her brother were burned and are at Beaumont Hospital, the 2 year old girl escaped with minor injuries. The father was away at work and the son was sleeping at a friend's house.

**Whaler** · July-15-09, 08:16 PM

Watching channel 4 they are saying that when the tanker exploded the fuel went to the Southbound side and affected cars going south flames very close to a Mobil Oil station

**Detroitej72** · July-15-09, 09:10 PM

Originally Posted by Whaler

Watching channel 4 they are saying that when the tanker exploded the fuel went to the Southbound side and affected cars going south flames very close to a Mobil Oil station

Channel 7 is reporting that the tanker hit the top of the bridge...WTF, why don't trucking companies follow the maps and keep tankers lower than the bridges???

I'm sad about the victims, and have much anger toward the trucking companies... do they value human life over their profits???

**yupislyr** · July-15-09, 09:12 PM

Originally Posted by Detroitej72

Channel 7 is reporting that the tanker hit the top of the bridge...WTF, why don't trucking companies follow the maps and keep tankers lower than the bridges???

I'm sad about the victims, and have much anger toward the trucking companies... do they value human life over their profits???

And WDIV is reporting the opposite. Eyewitnesses saying that the truck cleared the bridge. Who knows for now...

**Detroitej72** · July-15-09, 09:20 PM

Originally Posted by yupislyr

And WDIV is reporting the opposite. Eyewitnesses saying that the truck cleared the bridge. Who knows for now...

Sorry, I'm a little shook up, since my fiancÃ©e was in the vicinity...guess I need to calm down some, now that I know she's OK...

**Novine** · July-15-09, 09:34 PM

From some video they were just showing, you can see the tanker on its side across all northbound lanes and fully involved in flames. The cab of the tanker was free of the flames although the rear tires of the cab were on fire so the story that the driver escaped seems plausible.

The fire was under the bridge. I'm assuming that the intense heat caused a structural failure of the steel supports, causing the entire span of Nine Mile across the northbound lanes to collapse. In another view, you could see just the rear end of a Meijer trailer left after the span collapsed. It appears the rest of the cab and trailer were blocked in by the rolled over tanker and were either incinerated by the fire or crushed by the collapsing span, or both. Anything else underneath the span likely suffered the same fate. There also appeared to be cars further down the freeway that were on fire due to burning fuel escaping from the tanker.

**Meddle** · July-15-09, 08:16 PM

HAZEL PARK, Mich. [[WXYZ) - A tanker truck has exploded in the vacinity of northbound I-75/I-696/Nine Mile Road in Hazel Park, causing a massive fire and explosion. Eyewitnesses say the tanker tried to make it under the Nine Mile overpass but the top of the tanker hit the bridge, causing the explosion. It is not known what the tanker was carrying.

I-75 has been shut down in both directions from the center of the fire. Response teams from Hazel Park, Madison Heights and Ferndale are at the scene.

Multiple sources have told Action News that the overpass has collapsed at the center of the fire. The explosion, according to witnesses, occurred around 8:15 p.m.

Action News crews are on the way to the scene.

Stay with WXYZ.com for the latest information.

I'm thinking I-75/9 Mile/John R. Why are they mentioning 696? Doesn't that come through around 11 Mile?

And why would a tanker be tall enough to hit the bridge?

**yupislyr** · July-15-09, 08:18 PM

The Nite Cam guy on WDIV was saying when he arrived that the bridge actually collapsed shortly thereafter. I would assume from the intense flames.

**rjk** · July-15-09, 08:24 PM

I recall the rash of tanker explosions in the mid 70's. Maybe 1976 or 1977? I think there were 5 or 6 tanker fires in a relatively short period of time in the tri county area. I remember being in the family car one night and seeing the 12 mile and Dequindre intersection lit up from a few mile away.

**Detroit500** · July-15-09, 08:27 PM

How sad, we can only hope that all people are okay and not injured. As of this point, the fire is still burning, and the fire department is unable to get it under control. My thoughts and prayers will be with everyone in the area.

**Alley** · July-15-09, 08:28 PM

The bridge did collapse, and the other side looks like it's going to go, too. 2 confirmed dead so far ?

That bridge is where we ride bikes to look over the freeway. Well, it WAS

**pffft** · July-15-09, 08:28 PM

rjk why were there so many in that time frame, do you know?

**Whaler** · July-15-09, 08:37 PM

Man the smoke has made it'sway to Grosse Pointe Woods In the North Western skies...

**Meddle** · July-15-09, 08:39 PM

It wasn't just '76-'77. It was over a several year period. Most of them were attributed to the second trailer or 'pup' trailer going out of control and taking the main trailer with it. They eventually banned double trailer tankers.

**Traxus** · July-15-09, 08:43 PM

Holy fuckin cow, I'm a few stories up around Woodward and Warren and I Watched that column of smoke spread a good five miles across the horizon. It was so big and dense I thought the fire was in Highland Park. It's simmered down now, though harder to tell due to darkness.

Edit, must have been more than five now that i think about it. Wish I had snapped a photo...

**RO_Resident** · July-15-09, 08:40 PM

I-696 follows 10 Mile in that area.

One thing that is going to suck over the next few weeks for the detour--northbound Woodward north of I-696 has lost two lanes because of a sewer/water project. I'd avoid the area for a while.