Colorado Motorcyclist, Family Caught In Utah Blast

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Colorado Motorcyclist, Family Caught In Utah Blast
35,500 Pounds Of Explosives Left 35-Foot Crater In Road
(CBS4) PROVO, Utah A tractor-trailer carrying 35,500 pounds of explosives overturned and exploded Wednesday leaving a huge crater on U.S. 6 in Spanish Fork Canyon.

Among those caught in the blast were a motorcyclist from Denver, J.D. Herbert, who was blown of his motorcycle, and the Westesens, a Colorado family whose windshield was blown out.

The driver of the truck that exploded, a passenger in the truck's cab, a motorist and Herbert were transported to hospitals immediately after the 1:54 p.m. accident, Utah Highway Patrol Sgt. Todd Royce said.

The truck was "pretty much vaporized" in the explosion, Royce said.

The explosion left a crater in the two-lane highway estimated to be between 60 feet and 80 feet wide and between 20 feet and 35 feet deep, Utah Department of Transportation spokesman Tom Hudachko said.

"The entire road is gone, shoulder to shoulder, there's no asphalt left," he said.

The explosion also destroyed part of the adjacent railroad tracks and some fiber optic telephone lines buried along the road, Utah Highway Patrol Lt. Doug McCleve said.

"We were on our way home, after some time in Provo," said Dan Westesen, a Colorado middle school teacher scheduled to report to work on Thursday. "Flames were getting higher and hotter, and that's when tires started exploding and flying off. And they made a pretty good bang. [It was] the loudest thing I ever heard."

The blast blew out the windshield of the family's car.

"It, literally blew me to the ground, just like you see in the movies," Diane Westesen said.

Witnesses said the truck's driver appeared to lose control of the vehicle after taking a curve in the highway at a high rate of speed, McCleve said.

It is believed the truck accident initially started a fire, which triggered the explosion, Hudachko said.

The truck's driver, a 30-year-old man, was transported by helicopter to University of Utah Hospital, where he was listed in fair condition, spokesman Chris Nelson said. The driver was alert and talking to medical staff when he arrived.

Witnesses to the accident rushed to help the driver and his passenger, freeing the pair from their safety belts, McCleve said. Without the help, "they would not have survived."

The dazed driver was just coherent enough to say the word "explosive," giving rescuers a sense of the danger, McCleve said.

The driver was sent by medical helicopter to the University Hospital Burn Center, where he seemed to be in good condition.

"He's in Fair condition. He's speaking. He's talking with our medical staff, said Chris Nelson with University Hospital public affairs.

Troy Lysford, the co-driver was just getting ready to sleep in the cab when the semi turned on its side. After getting himself out of the truck, Lysford said he saw the fire. Remembering his emergency explosives training, he tried to warn people to get out of the area.

"I spent way too much time to get people to move. They just weren't moving fast enough," said Lysford.

Lysford wasn't sure how far away he was from the truck when the 35,000 pounds of explosives blew.

"I was close enough that it literally picked my off my feet and threw me to the ground," said Lysford.

He was taken to Utah Valley Medical Center where, although still dazed, he spoke from a wheelchair.

"I feel very lucky to be here. It was a tremendous force. I felt it literally all the way through me before it even hit me," said Lysford.

Art Rigoli was driving two vehicles behind the overturned semi when he heard the warnings to move and tried to get out of the way.

"I didn't know where I was at. I've never seen anything like that before," said Rigoli.

LDS Hospital spokesman Jess Gomez said two people in critical condition were taken by medical helicopter to Utah Valley Regional Medical Center in Provo. The motorcycle driver, J.D. Herbert, was taken by ambulance and was in satisfactory condition.

Herbert, of Denver, said he was trying to warn motorists about the truck accident when the explosion blew him off his motorcycle.

"It's truly just a powerful force that kicks you right in the butt," he told Salt Lake City television station KUTV.

After being knocked off the motorcycle, he said he looked up "at a mushroom cloud of fire, and shrapnel just starts falling down."

"The shrapnel is hitting the forest, and crackling like bacon," said Herbert, the nephew of Utah Lt. Gov. Gary Herbert.

Herbert did what he could to help some of the other blast victims.

"I'm yelling to this woman in her minivan to open up the backdoor so it'll cover our heads. She was screaming, her kids were crying," said Herbert.

Officials say it was fortunate that no one was hurt worse than they were, but say more injuries may turn up over the next couple days.

"A blast this big can do internal damager and can make small leaks in areas around our heart that can be dangerous hours – sometimes even days down the road," says Sergeant Skip Curtis, Utah County Bomb Squad.

Several small fires in the hills above the accident scene were believed to have been triggered by flying debris.

Uinta National Forest spokesman Loyal Clark said firefighters had been unable to get to the fires because of possible unexploded materials and it was decided to wait until Thursday morning before taking another look at sending in a ground crew.

Meanwhile, water drops from a helicopter extinguished some of the blazes, she said. High humidity was keeping the fires from spreading rapidly and they also were moving into an area where there had been another fire and there was little fuel to burn, she said.

A bomb squad found several unexploded ordinances among the debris and needed several hours to clear the area before letting fire crews and road engineers near into the area, McCleve said.

By late Wednesday, repair work had started on the railroad and highway. Highway officials said it might take a couple of days to repair the highway. Those working on the tracks said they could be back in service as early as Thursday morning.

"We're going to do whatever was can to get this place open. We'll be working around the clock so we can get the road repaired, cleared, and safe for travel again," said Brent Wilhite with UDOT.

Public safety officials were still trying to determine what type of explosives the truck was carrying.

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 type of explosives the truck was carrying.

Hal Jaussi, an Ensign-Bickford manager, said the trucking company "met federal regulations for transporting explosives."

Trucking company controller Doug Greek said the company couldn't comment on the accident because they were "still trying to investigate everything that's happened."

The explosion forced the closure of the highway about 60 miles south of Salt Lake City in both directions, something Hudachko said would remain in place until repairs could be made. More than 6,800 motorists use the highway daily, 19 percent of which are tractor-trailers.

"It's going to be a significant repair job, so it's going to take a while," Hudachko said.

Train tracks near the site were damaged due to the explosion, causing delays for Union Pacific and Amtrak.

Union Pacific officials are waiting to get into the area so they can assess the damage on the tracks and then determine a path of action.

Amtrak stopped a west-bound train in Grand Junction, Colorado while waiting to assess damage to tracks in the area of the explosion.

Spanish Fork Canyon remains closed in both directions.