Seeing that fire at night brought back a memory from when I was a kid in New Orleans around 1969 or 1970. A freighter and oil barge collided close to the Huey P. Long bridge.
The local UHF station was on one of the higher floors of the Trade Mart building and cut their feed for a live broadcast.
Dad loaded us up in the car and drove down to the levee to watch. The barge broke into three flaming pieces that were scattered down river.
The freighter was stuck under the bridge and burned until it sank.
I vividly recall my father saying to us, “if there’s an explosion HIT THE GROUND.”