Evacuated Wednesday

A burning tanker truck with a load of butane caused the neighborhood to be evacuated. The truck reportedly went through a red light, T-boned a turning van, then overturned on a highway about a half mile from home. Leaking fuel collected in a nearby house and finally reached an ignition source there about two hours after the accident.

The accident altered my commute home, as it did my son, who actually got off the UTA bus at the same intersection of the crash, just as first responders where arriving. He had an adventure getting home since police quickly cordoned off his normal route.

We watched the news report, discussed the excitement during dinner and then separated into our various routines. About an hour later I smelled a rotting cabbage smell. My wife noticed it also. We checked the trash and kitty litter before I thought to check outside; when I did, not only was the smell coming from the tanker, I saw the orange glow from fire lighting the sky.

Sometimes you don’t realize when a situation is dangerous. My first reaction was to call the kids to the patio to look at the fire. About a minute later sirens could be heard arriving. A fire truck began driving through the neighborhood; the driver using a loud speaker, directed us to evacuate immediately.

I told the kids to put their shoes and coats on. My wife grabbed a few things. As I opened the garage to put the emergency 72 hour kit in the car, I noticed the house across the street was lit up in an orange hue indicating the flames had grown much larger. This spurred me to have the family stop further gathering immediately and to get in the van. We probably were out of the house in three minutes from first hearing the evacuation notice.

We spent the night at my parents, about 25 minutes south of home, watching the news reports of the fire and evacuation. We were able to return at 8:00 the next morning.