MATT HELMS Detroit Free Press;Crews at the collapsed 9 Mile overpass above I-75 were inspecting the
damage this morning from a massive tanker explosion and fire that has shut down the freeway indefinitely.
Posted on 07/17/2009 4:38:46 AM PDT by restornu
Bridge demolition begins; freeway shut indefinitely
Smoke still billowed from the twisted wreckage beneath the collapsed Nine Mile Road bridge on Thursday as police investigated the spectacular, fiery crash that has closed I-75 indefinitely.
The driver of the gas tanker that exploded has been identified as Michael St. John, 44, of Armada. The driver of the car believed to have caused the accident may face charges and his insurance company could be asked to foot road repair bills, officials said.
On the service drive Thursday, demolition crews set out Dumpsters to haul away metal,
concrete and the charred remains of a tanker truck, produce sem-truck and passenger car that crashed about 8:10 p.m. Wednesday.
State police reported the explosive accident happened after the driver of a car on northbound I-75 lost control of his vehicle, drifted across two lanes of traffic and struck the tanker.
The driver of the car, Saied Haidarian-Shahri, 27, of Clawson, may face charges when state police submit their investigation for review to Oakland County prosecutors next week, said Michigan State Police Lt. Shannon Sims.
"He is the one who lost control of his vehicle and caused the accident," Sims said of the car's driver.
State police said the cab of the fuel tanker separated from the fuel tank after it was struck and jackknifed.
"The cab detached and hit the center median and the fuel tanker hit the roadway and exploded," Sims said.
Police said the driver of a Meijer semi-truck on northbound I-75 saw the accident and came to a complete stop beneath the Nine Mile Road bridge and abandoned his vehicle.
The drivers of the tanker and Meijer truck were transported to the hospital with minor injuries and released, Sims said.
The Meijer truck was driven by Jody Cicero, 38, of Monroe.
Hazel Park police said they found Haidarian-Shahri as he was leaving the scene on foot and brought him to their station where he was questioned by state police.
He has had his driver's license for only a couple of months, according to the Michigan Secretary of State's office.
All three drivers were interviewed and their statements will be compared with results of the accident reconstruction. More details about the cause of the fiery crash could be released Monday, Sims said.
Miracle nobody killed
On Thursday morning, the blackened tanker was flipped on its side north of the fallen bridge, which flattened almost all of the Meijer produce truck. A couple feet of the truck was left intact over strewn lettuce and fruit a few yards from the burned passenger car facing toward the southeast.
As he surveyed the damage, Fire Chief Ray DeWalt still couldn't believe no one was seriously hurt when the tanker filled with more than 9,000 gallons of gasoline and 4,000 gallons of diesel fuel rolled over and caught fire.
"It's amazing no one suffered more than minor injuries," DeWalt said. "It may have just been a matter of timing. If this happened three hours earlier during rush hour who knows what would have happened."
Firefighters from Ferndale, Madison Heights and Royal Oak were the first to the scene Wednesday night and doused the blaze with water and foam until about 2:30 a.m. Thursday. Agencies from as far west as Bloomfield delivered five-gallon jugs of foam to keep the suppression effort going.
DeWalt said the mutual aid plan was implemented without a hitch.
"The outcome was as best as I could expect," he said.
Hazel Park City Manager Ed Klobucher credited first responders from Hazel Park and the region for helping with the city's second major incident.
"I'm extremely proud of my city employees," Klobucher said. "We started the day with a house explosion (one person severely burned) and ended it with a catastrophic fire that collapsed a bridge. It was an incredible inferno and I'm thankful we had all hands on deck. It's a miracle there weren't any fatalities."
Flames shot into the air almost as high as the nine-story Days Inn next to the freeway, Klobucher said. The black plume of smoke could be seen for miles.
Gary Reid of Hazel Park got a close look. He was buying a soft drink from the Exxon gas station when he heard what he thought was a crash involving five to 10 vehicles.
"I saw fire shoot up instantly from under the bridge," Reid said. "You could feel the heat."
He ran over and said he saw the tanker rolled sideways.
"The car exploded when I was over there," Reid said. "It was really loud."
He figured the eastern half of the bridge collapsed about an hour later.
"There was a big thump and it felt like a minor earthquake," Reid said.
Hazel Park Fire Lt. Bill Anderson said the hours long fire from the tanker explosion was the biggest he has seen in his 25 years as a firefighter.
"The bridge was still up when I got there," he said. "And then it just went down, boom, from all that heat."
He estimated the massive fire burned at temperatures of up to 2,400 degrees Fahrenheit, twice the temperature at which steel fails and twists.
The 13,000 gallons of fuel feeding the fire sent black oily smoke 200 feet into the air, where it blew with a northeast wind, Anderson said.
"In a way it was spectacular looking," he said.
Bridge may be rebuilt by Thanksgiving
Just a year after the Nine Mile Road overpass connecting east and west Hazel Park was rebuilt, a crane and other equipment returned Thursday to demolish it.
Although half of the five-lane bridge still stood over the southbound lanes, the entire structure is being razed as part of an $84,000 bid awarded Thursday morning to Posen Construction Co., according to Rob Morosi, spokesman for the Michigan Department of Transportation.
"The heat from the fire compromised the strength of the steel beams," Morosi said of the decision to tear down the remaining part of the bridge.
The overpass will be rebuilt for $1-2 million, possibly by Thanksgiving, he said.
Klobucher said residents waited at least seven years for the deteriorating bridge to be renovated in 2008. They kept up a steady stream of complaints to the state about being able to look down holes to the freeway below.
"It was the poster child for bad bridges," Klobucher said. "We fought to have it fixed and now it's in the middle of I-75."
If a driver is determined to be the cause of the bridge's collapse, the state can seek reimbursement from the insurer.
"When we obtain the police report we'll turn it over to the attorney general and they will represent the department to recoup the financial loss," Morosi said.
Machines that break concrete were being used at the accident scene Thursday afternoon. By the end of the weekend, debris should be removed and the road should be cleaned up, Morosi said.
"Then we can determine the fix on the pavement," he said. "It's too early to say when we can reopen the freeway, but we are working diligently on that for the public."
About 160,000 motorists a day used that stretch of I-75. They are being detoured around closures at Eight Mile Road and I-696 indefinitely.
"The X factor will be the condition of the pavement," said Morosi, adding the aftermath of the crash could be worse. "We can replace an overpass and a road, but not a life. When there aren't any fatalities, it's a very fortunate accident."
Actually, my state Senator told me personally that there are more uninsured drivers in Detroit than insured drivers. They get “street” insurance. Just enough to get them on the street then they cancel it.
Each citizen in Michigan pays hundreds of dollars a year for uninsured motorist coverage.
If this idiot has no insurance, deport his sorry butt back to the sandbox.
Thanks for posting. Interesting.
Rosie, you ignorant slut.
If Michigan Motor Vehicle Division is anything like NJ, all documentation can be purchased for a very little money.
Usually, right in the parking lot of the agency.
Muslim.....hmmmmmmm.
Guessing that you can CANCEL your insurance the day after you get the license.
Sudden jihad syndrom is quite a stretch.
He was an inexperienced driver, going too fast, lost control and caused an accident. It happens all the time and in the detroit area a lot of them happen to involve muslims.
Iranians aren't Arabs. Also, it might be well to withhold judgement until we find out if one of the other drivers isn't, say, the mayor's brother, or one of the trucks doesn't belong to a major political contributor.
He is quoting Rosie in her stupid statement about 9-11
Good driving is not a big part of arab/muslum culture. IMO it is part and parcel of their arrogance.
Ya it was down for months and completely rebuilt and finally open for a few months. Now MDOT gets to do it all over again.
Send this POS to his virgins, NOW!
Of course....just ask Rosie O! She's the one with her engineering degree and knows all about how steel can't melt or twist, no matter how hot! /s
He doesn’t look like an idiot but......Immigrants are notoriously awful drivers especially the females. Many never drove at all until they came to America
I think that is a reference to Rosie O’donnel’s comment about the WTC. She said that fuel couldn’t have been hot enough to melt steel and bring the building down.
“Ya it was down for months and completely rebuilt and finally open for a few months. Now MDOT gets to do it all over again.”
Shovel ready......
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