On Friday, March 13, near the I-471 Memorial Parkway exit at the 4.33 Mile point, there was a major tanker explosion. The semitruck got hit by a car, flipped over and exploded. There were no casualties with only three people taken to the hospital for minor injuries. 

When the car hit the tanker, it flipped over the fuel and ignited, quickly taking over the vehicles. It led the first responders to quickly arrive on the scene.

Eli Hills (12) was at the Auto Zone in Newport when the explosion happened, and watched in terror as he watched the firefighters put out the fire.

“I was pretty scared to see the fire and I was worried about the safety of the people involved. There were many first responders from the area to quickly put out the fire,” Hills (12) said.

Will Martin (12) was with Hills at the same Auto Zone when the explosion happened, he became  concerned about the well being of the people involved in the fire.

“I was definitely concerned about the people but I was concerned about the bridge as well,” Martin (12) said.

After the fire happened, it took the bridge 20 hours to get back up and running. It reopened at 6:20 p.m. There was no significant damage to the bridge other than the sign being burnt. 

The Kentucky Department of Transportation was quick to come out to the scene to inspect the bridge. They needed to make sure it was structurally sound and was good enough for people to drive on.

A Facebook post from the Kentucky District 6 Cabinet highlights how quickly the highway reopened and the process to get there.

Daniel Beasey (12) was about to get onto the highway at the Memorial Parkway exit when the explosion happened and had fears about the structure of the bridge. 

“I’m pretty concerned about the structure of the bridge after words because of how big the fire was,” Beasey (12) said.

The firefighters got the fire all cleared but the road had minor damage  to it. It was not catastrophic to the point where the whole road needed to be closed for a long time. The road crew was able to get the road done in one day to fix the minor damages.