Posted on 03/05/2009 10:07:00 AM PST by Zakeet
An explosion rocked downtown Bozeman Thursday morning, collapsing three buildings and prompting evacuation of a two-block area, officials said.
Reports indicate the explosion happened at about 8:15 a.m. in the 200 block of Main Street.
Crews were working to extinguish a fire caused by the explosion.
Boodles restaurant and bar were destroyed, KBZK-TV reported. A police dispatcher said the adjacent Rocking R bar was also heavily damaged. Police evacuated the two blocks surrounding the businesses, housed in historic brick buildings.
Jason Shrauger with Gallatin County Disaster and Emergency Services said it was unknown what caused the explosion or if there were any injuries.
Witnesses reported seeing debris fly three times the height of the two-story building. Glass windows on downtown storefronts two blocks away were shattered by the blast, the Bozeman Daily Chronicle reported.
City officials were investigating the possibility that a natural gas leak caused the explosion, the Chronicle reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at flatheadbeacon.com ...
Being that they were bar/restaurants hopefully they were unoccupied that early in the morning.
ping
I went to college in Bozeman and probably spent more time at the Rocking R than I did in class. I wonder if anybody was hurt?
Ok so I asked for my martini shaken not stirred ... but this is ridiculous!
I hope nobody was hurt. This is going to cost a lot of carbon credits.
But that's when smart people drink in order to avoid the crowd!
Rocking R? Dang. That is a landmark! If ever in Bozeman one had to visit the Rockin’ R. Bozeman is a college town. Losing two bars like that is a big deal—LOL—especially the R. Good thing it was the AM and not the PM there would be loads of bodies.
I wouldn’t imagine there would be anyone there that early in the morning but we had a bar that opened at 7AM when I was growing up for the hard core alcoholics whose wives didn’t allow them to keep it in the house.
maybe they had requested an irish car bomb?
In which state is Bozeman?
depends on whether or not a factory is close by.
used to have a couple bars that had an early morning happy hour for 3d shift employees just getting off work.
Global Warming
Holy cats! Look at the pics on the gallery link. Amazing, the brick building on the right looks ok. I guess one of the three little pigs was correct.
Rock’n R. Wow, although I didn’t partake when I was an undergrad there at MooU, it was probably a shock to bozo. The most excitement the town probably sees outside the Cat/Griz game.
Gibson Guitars is out there somewhere I think
I think some of the pics were taken before the fire department got there. One guy is crossing the street just in front of the debris and the fire is just erupting.
Where in the heck is Bozeman, and how am I to discern it form your initial post?
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