Meanwhile, a half mile from my house yesterday
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Residents in a northwest suburban neighborhood are picking up the pieces on Friday night after a garbage truck exploded and caught fire, damaging several homes.
According to Arlington Heights police, at around 4 p.m., officers and fire crews responded to a report that a garbage truck, operated by Groot Waste Management, caught fire near the intersection of North Dryden Avenue and Euclid Avenue in Arlington Heights.
Crews arrived and began assessing the scene, but officers said that was when part of the truck exploded.
Officers said the vehicle was powered by compressed natural gas (CNG), and officials believe that one of the tanks exploded during the fire.
During the blast, two police officers and one firefighter were injured by flying debris and post-blast concussion.
We were in the kitchen when the explosion occurred. It shook our house.
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Yikes!
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I'm glad all you got was a shaking!
HI was shaking all the time. You can see it mapped out by the day.
My first impression of being back in FL was the stillness. You mean that mirror hanging over my bed isn't going to fall off the wall and cut my head off like a guillotine? Yes!
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@Jodi said in Meanwhile, a half mile from my house yesterday:
look at how far the pieces flew!
Reports said that truck parts ended up a few blocks away, and other debris as far as a 1000 feet away.
I took a walk through that neighborhood yesterday and everything is cleaned up except for the salt that had been scattered to melt the ice that formed when they were putting out the fire; it was really cold that day. Damage to the houses didn't look that bad, but there was a huge gouge in the lawn of one house. Looked like some cylindrical projectile flew into the ground. The object was gone, and I couldn't see the bottom of the hole that it left behind. Hell of a piece of shrapnel.
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Police bodycam video of the explosion.
https://www.audacy.com/wbbm780/news/local/police-release-bodycam-footage-of-garbage-truck-explosion
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However, investigators believe trash in the garbage truck’s hopper fueled the fire, which in turn caused heat to rise to the roof where the vehicle’s compressed natural gas tanks were located.
The heat caused the natural gas to combust, creating the massive blast that was felt thousands of feet away.
It took nearly six hours to clear the debris and reopen streets after the explosion.
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The plot thickens...did the firefighters trigger the explosion? This is from a local group of former police and fire personnel. They monitor scanners and are often the first to report on local incidents like this.
