Highway 6 Could Re-Open Friday
Railroad Track Already Repaired
as the title and subtitle... for a story about an explosives truck crashing, and 35,000 pounds of explosives detonating on the highway, injuring 19 people and leaving a 30 foot deep crater, completely closing the highway and adjacent rail lines. what the fuck?
liberal media? it couldn't be right-wing, they would've used it to terrorize you and postulate it wasn't the crash that detonated it. I can hear the news tease now.... "A 35,000 pound bomb explodes on route 6. was it terrorism? we'll tell ya at 6"
Highway 6 Could Re-Open Friday
Railroad Track Already Repaired
Thursday August 11th, 2005.
Salt Lake City UT-
Transportation officials hope to re-open Highway 6 through Spanish Fork Canyon sometime Friday, after a semi truck exploded on the roadway while carrying 35,000 pounds of explosives. At least 19 people were injured in Wednesday’s blast, which also left a crater in the asphalt, 30-feet-deep.
The truck driver, a passenger in the cab, a motorist and a man on a motorcycle were transported to hospitals immediately after the 1:54 p.m. accident, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce said.
The truck was “pretty much vaporized” in the explosion, Royce said. “The entire road is gone, shoulder to shoulder, there's no asphalt left.”
The explosion also destroyed part of the adjacent railroad tracks and some fiber optic telephone lines buried along the road, Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Doug McCleve said.
Construction crews worked late into the night and early morning to fill the gaping hole left in the road, and planned to have new asphalt laid by Thursday evening. One of the railroad tracks has already been repaired and re-opened.
Witnesses said the truck's driver appeared to lose control of the vehicle after taking a curve in the highway at a high rate of speed, McCleve said.
It is believed the truck accident initially started a fire, which triggered the explosion, Hudachko said.
The truck driver, Travis Stewart, 30, of Rexburg, Idaho, was flown to University Hospital in Salt Lake City, where he was in fair condition, spokesman Chris Nelson said.
Witnesses to the accident rushed to help the driver and his passenger, freeing the pair from their safety belts, McCleve said. Without the help, “they would not have survived.”
The dazed driver was just coherent enough to say the word “explosive,” giving rescuers a sense of the danger, McCleve said.
The driver was sent by medical helicopter to the University Hospital Burn Center, where he seemed to be in good condition.
“He’s in Fair condition. He’s speaking. He’s talking with our medical staff, said Chris Nelson with University Hospital public affairs.
Co-driver Troy Lysfjord, 37, of Blackfoot, Idaho, was lying down in the back of the cab when the accident occurred. After getting himself out of the truck saw the fire. Remembering his emergency explosives training, he tried to warn people to get out of the area.
“I spent way too much time to get people to move. They just weren’t moving fast enough,” said Lysfjord.
He said it was roughly three minutes between the time of the crash and the explosion.
Lysfjord wasn’t sure how far away he was from the truck when the 35,000 pounds of explosives blew.
“I was close enough that it literally picked my off my feet and threw me to the ground,” said Lysfjord.
He was taken to Utah Valley Medical Center where, although still dazed, he spoke from a wheelchair.
“I feel very lucky to be here. It was a tremendous force. I felt it literally all the way through me before it even hit me,” said Lysfjord.
Lysfjord is expected to be released from the hospital Thursday.
Art Rigoli was driving two vehicles behind the overturned semi when he heard the warnings to move and tried to get out of the way.
“I didn’t know where I was at. I’ve never seen anything like that before,” said Rigoli.
LDS Hospital spokesman Jess Gomez said two people in critical condition were taken by medical helicopter to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo. The motorcycle driver, J.D. Herbert, was taken by ambulance and was in satisfactory condition.
Herbert, of Denver, said he was trying to warn motorists about the truck accident when the explosion blew him off his motorcycle.
“It's truly just a powerful force that kicks you right in the butt,” he told 2 News.
After being knocked off the motorcycle, he said he looked up “at a mushroom cloud of fire, and shrapnel just starts falling down.”
“The shrapnel is hitting the forest, and crackling like bacon,” said Herbert, the nephew of Utah Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert.
Herbert did what he could to help some of the other blast victims.
“I’m yelling to this woman in her minivan to open up the backdoor so it’ll cover our heads. She was screaming, her kids were crying,” said Herbert.
Officials say it was fortunate that no one was hurt worse than they were, but say more injuries may turn up over the next couple days.
“A blast this big can do internal damage and can make small leaks in areas around our heart that can be dangerous hours – sometimes even days down the road,” says Sergeant Skip Curtis, Utah County Bomb Squad.
Several small fires in the hills above the accident scene were believed to have been triggered by flying debris.
Uinta National Forest spokesman Loyal Clark said firefighters had been unable to get to the fires because of possible unexploded materials and it was decided to wait until Thursday morning before taking another look at sending in a ground crew.
Meanwhile, water drops from a helicopter extinguished some of the blazes, she said. High humidity was keeping the fires from spreading rapidly and they also were moving into an area where there had been another fire and there was little fuel to burn, she said.
By late Wednesday, repair work had started on the railroad and highway. Highway officials said it might take a couple of days to repair the highway. Train service resumed Thursday morning.
“We’re going to do whatever was can to get this place open. We’ll be working around the clock so we can get the road repaired, cleared, and safe for travel again,” said Brent Wilhite with UDOT.
Public safety officials were still trying to determine what type of explosives the truck was carrying.
The rig from R&R Trucking of Duenweg, Mo., had just left commercial explosives maker Ensign-Bickford Co. at the mouth of Spanish Fork Canyon when the accident happened. The truck was headed to Oklahoma, company officials said. They wouldn't say what type of explosives the truck was carrying.
Hal Jaussi, an Ensign-Bickford manager, said the trucking company “met federal regulations for transporting explosives.”
Trucking company controller Doug Greek said the company couldn't comment on the accident because they were “still trying to investigate everything that's happened.”
The explosion forced the closure of the highway about 60 miles south of Salt Lake City in both directions, something Hudachko said would remain in place until repairs could be made. More than 6,800 motorists use the highway daily, 19 percent of which are tractor-trailers.
“It's going to be a significant repair job, so it's going to take a while,” Hudachko said.
Train tracks near the site were damaged due to the explosion, causing delays for Union Pacific and Amtrak.
