The Freeway Clean up begins….
Via WXYZ-TV:
Quote:
The damage is being assessed at 9 Mile Road and I-75 after Wednesday night’s massive tanker explosion in Hazel Park.
Northbound and Southbound I-75 is shut down in both directions from 8 mile to I-696 and will remain closed until further notice.
Three vehicles were involved in the accident – the tanker truck, a Meijer semi-truck and a car. The tanker was carrying more than 13,000 gallons of gas and approximately 4,000 gallons of diesel when it exploded right under the 9 Mile overpass.
The intense heat of the explosion forced the overpass to collapse onto the freeway below as hundreds of people watched, stunned by what was happening.
Amazingly, no one was killed. Three people were taken to Beaumont hospital with non-life threatening injuries. They were the 44-year-old tanker driver Michael St. John of Armada, the 38-year-old driver of the Meijer truck Jody Cicero of Monroe, and the 27-year-old driver of the car Saied Haidarian-Shahri of Clawson. All three have been released from the hospital.
Police tell Action News Haidarian-Shahri may have lost control of the vehicle and hit the tanker.
A driver who was stopped at a light just ahead of the overpass, told Action News she saw the explosion and flames engulf the bridge. Mary Greiv says she was "in shock" by what she saw. "Oh my god, I’m so grateful to God that I’m alive because I was right there," Greiv told Action News.
Another witness says she actually felt the explosions from a distance. "I’ve never been in an earthquake type situation, but I would dare say that’s what it felt like – like an aftershock."
I am just glad that no one was actually killed in the accident. I mean, the fact those drivers had the frame of mind and the wits about them to get the heck out of dodge before the fire really hit says quite a bit about them. Of course, now your EnviroNuts are out in force:
Via WXYZ-TV:
Video:
Quote:
Once the raging inferno was brought under control following the I-75 accident Wednesday night, environmental concerns emerged.
Ferndale sent a half-million gallons of water to help extinguish the flames.
Also involved, thousands of gallons of fuel inside the tanker that had to go somewhere.
Ferndale DPW officials were up through the night working with the EPA and other agencies.
They were working to figure out where the water went underground in the sewers.
Thursday, crews pumped out the runoff and tried to determine the concentration of the fuel.
There are lingering concerns about fumes that could possibly ignite.
That’s the main concern, because experts can control the flow of anything in the sewer systems.
Fuel left on the road was being soaked up by sand.
There never was a threat to drinking water.
Heh… "ZOMG! Some gasoline and Diesel got into the water and the sewer! We might have to flush it out!" Liberals are such morons, I’ll tell ya! That Gas and Diesel was so damn diluted from all that water, that what did not burn off was so watered down; the chances of it exploding were slim to none. But then again, this is liberal Michigan. :loser: :struggle:
Anyways, the mess is being cleaned and the overpass will be fixed. The real kicker is, they just rebuilt that overpass; a year ago! D’OH! 
I would be willing to bet, that the guys who worked on that little project let out a groan when they found out what happened. 
I mean, I could just hear it now; "They could have picked any overpass on that freeway, but they just had to pick the one we worked on!" 
One thing I will say here is this; Cheryl Chodun is the best. My Mom alerted me to the fact that this accident was happening. She told me to turn to channel 4, which is WDIV in the local area here. They had a lousy picture. So, I flipped over to WXYZ-TV, which is channel 7 here in the local area. There was good ol’ Cheryl Chodun; practically standing on top of the tanker saying stuff like, "Man, this is a really big fire!" God Love her. She really does a excellent job, even it does mean standing way too close to a tanker, that they had no idea, at the time, what was exactly in the taker itself. Heck, even Bill Proctor was not even that brave, He was at least a block away. Not Cheryl, she would have been helping put out the fire, if they would have allowed it.
Update Friday 3:22 A.M. (I really should be in bed…
): I Wrote Cheryl Chodun an e-mail, letting her know that I wrote about her. Much to my shock and surprise; she replied! 
Here’s Mrs. Chodun’s Reply:
Thanks for the kind words and thanks for watching us! I was pretty close but we were up-wind, not in the fumes or smoke and while I am pretty passionate and intense about my job, I think I will leave the fire-fighting to the experts! To be honest, I was really hoping the explosions were over as I was talking…and talking…for about 2 hours.
All the best to you,
Cheryl
Thanks for reply Mrs. Chodun. Keep up the good work. 
