Posted on 08/10/2005 3:14:00 PM PDT by ghostcat
KSL News) – A tanker truck carrying some sort of explosive material overturned and exploded this afternoon on Highway 6, up Spanish Fork Canyon. It caught fire and exploded.
Highway 6 is shut down in both directions and is expected to remain so for up to eight hours. The accident was reported about 1:30. It's about 10 miles up Spanish Fork Canyon, just east of the Thistle Fork Junction.
Doug McCleve of the Utah Department of Public Safety confirmed there was an explosion and there were some injuries, including two burn victims.
There's apparently a crater now in the middle of the road. Witnesses say it's about 30 feet deep and possibly 60 feet wide.
A witness said he saw the driver get pulled out of the truck before it exploded. He said when the driver was pulled to safety, he warned everyon on the scene that the truck was full of blasting caps and primer cord and everyone should run.
Kirby Glad, Witness: "When the truck blew it pretty much diminished the entire truck. There is probably just an axle left. You could see the engine block over off on the side of the road and smoldering pieces of the truck were up, probably as high as 40 feet up the side of the hill. It left about a 35 foot crater in the road and took out the railroad tracks next to the road. About ten cars had their windshields forced in or completely blown out."
Some of the debris is still smoldering.
Everyone, including emergency personnel, is being kept at least ½ mile from the scene, downwind, because right now they don't know what kind of explosive material the truck was carrying, or what kind of fumes it's giving off.
Medical helicopters are arriving on the scene. At this point we don't know what type of injuries there may be.
Kirby Glad says it looked like the truck failed to maneuver a sharp curve, and that could have contributed to the accident.
Tom Hudachko, UDOT's spokesman, says there is extensive damage to the road. The explosion and crater took out the entire width of the road as well as supporting materials. This section will need an entire rebuild over the next few days. He says they still need to figure out if some sort of temporary bypass will be built or if the road will be closed for several days.
The railroad will also need to focus on some rebuilding.
This causes a big detour issue throughout the central part of the state. Highway 6 is the main road to south eastern Utah, and with it out of commission for several hours, traffic will be impacted.
Possible Alternative Routes:
* Stay on I-15, get off just south of Nephi at State Road 28, take that road to Gunnison on to Salina, then get onto I-70 and make your way east.
* Another alternative where the accident is, about 5 miles east of Thistle, drivers could take Highway 89 and head south. Head to Fairview and take Highway 31 over Fairview canyon, which will bring you out near Huntington, where you can get back onto Highway 6. Be cautioned that it is a mountain road, and is probably better for passenger cars than trucks carrying loads.
* You can also cut off at Helper and go up to Highway 40 to Duchesne on Highway 191, and back around that way.
* An extremely long detour would be to take I-70 down to Cove Fort, then get on I-15 and come north.
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I'm betting that's supposed to be "upwind", not "downwind".
Pretty wild. I was wondering what the explosives were for, too. Mining was my guess. They probably wouldn't be for the military, would they? I'm guessing bombs and missiles for Hill AFB are flown in by cargo jet.
Blasting caps and primer cord are under the same HAZMAT explosive type.
You may be thinking of fuse wire.
"I don't get it. Tanker trucks carry liquid. And you don't carry blasting caps and det cord in a tanker. Which one was it?"
This is just a journalist not being able to comprehend that there are things that do go bang besides gasoline.
I get so tired of idiot "journalists" I also hate it when my truck diminishes. It sounds like the kind of thing that det cord would do so I am going with the premise that it was not a tanker.
That's just what I was thinking. Most all mining blasting is done by slurry with fuse, but I suppose caps and det cord would be useful for wall blasting... I don't know how much fuse is actually used. I've been out of coal mining for decades, and other types of mining certainly use other kinds of methods.
Dunno. I suppose it'll get out where this was going before it went poof.
I just watched KSL News. What a huge crater. And it took out the side of the mountain and destroyed the trees, as well as making the railroad tracks move. Utah has had quite the excitement today, that Hyatte woman is from West Jordan (the woman involved in the shootout in Tennessee.)
The explosion left a giant crater - estimated to be 70 feet wide and 30 feet deep - on U.S. 6 about 60 miles south of Salt Lake City and forced the two-lane highway's closure in both directions.
Several small fires were started by the explosion and flying debris.
"The entire road is gone, shoulder to shoulder, there's no asphalt left," said Tom Hudachko, Utah Department of Transportation spokesman.
Witnesses said the truck's driver appeared to lose control of the vehicle after taking a curve at high speed, Highway Patrol Lt. Doug McCleve said.
The driver, Travis Stewart, 30, was flown to University Hospital in Salt Lake City, where he was in fair condition, spokesman Chris Nelson said.
Troy Lysfjord, 37, was lying down in the back of the cab when the accident occurred. He told The Salt Lake Tribune that he helped Stewart out of his seat belt and they climbed out of the cab with the help of nearby motorists.
By that time, between 20 and 30 people had gathered around the wreckage to help and Lysfjord said he shouted, "It's explosives! Get out of here."
"I was close enough that it literally picked me up off my feet and threw me on the ground," he told the newspaper. "I felt it literally all the way through me."
Lysfjord was in fair condition at Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo and was expected to be released Thursday.
At least 19 other people were treated for injuries at various hospitals. Others may have been injured but sought medical care on their own, authorities said.
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 kind of explosives the truck was carrying.
AP-ES-08-11-05 0645EDT
he was cited for doing 65 in a 45 zone, and the truck left the travel lane rolling over onto the guard rail creating sparks igniting the truck and boom...
Them truckers are always speeding it seems like. I'm glad some know when it's ok and when it's not.
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