Posts Tagged ‘I-69’

Taken about 30 seconds after the blast

Today was quite the day here in Indianapolis. At about 10:45 this morning, a tanker containing between 500 and 1,000 gallons of liquid propane exploded at the I-69 and I-465 interchange on the city’s northeast side.

Brian Coles and I were on I-465 driving back from a meeting with our Bank on Indy clients at Mayor Greg Ballard’s office when we saw the 300-foot-high fireball directly ahead of us at about a quarter-mile. Though it only lasted about 10 seconds, it felt like a lot longer. It just kept blooming and climbing, blooming and climbing; so much so that we weren’t sure for a second whether we were actually out of harm’s way. Luckily, we were at an exit and pulled off.

Once we gathered our wits about 30 seconds later, I snapped the above picture. Imagine fire in place of that smoke and you start to get the idea. It was massive. We felt the heat of the blast on our faces through the windshield and just sat on the highway, dumbfounded, much like everyone else.

News from the blast didn’t trickle in until about 15 minutes later. We kept refreshing the Indy Star and local TV affiliates’ Web sites for information. I was surprised but relieved to hear that no one had died. Local news was reporting that before the blast, two very brave construction workers working at a site just off the highway pulled the driver from his cab and moved him to a safer place.

From a quarter-mile away, we were plenty scared. Imagine what they must have felt — but they saved the driver’s life, which I’m sure he’s thankful for.

Like many of my fellow Hoosiers, I’m also thankful today. It’s been a long week with not enough time to do everything that needs to be done — every week is like that, right? — and not enough sleep to go around (teething nine-month-old twin boys will do that to you). But there is enough time, and yeah, I’m a little tired today, but so what? I know what’s most important, and it’s not sleep.

Have a safe weekend and take a minute to count your blessings. You’ll have plenty of time to do so as you creatively make your way home tonight without the use of a whole interstate!