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Calif. interchange collapses after fire »

Posted by: jeremytoday 1 year, 4 months ago

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An interchange connecting highways to the busy Oakland-San Francisco Bay Bridge collapsed early Sunday after a tractor trailer hauling 8,600 gallons of gasoline caught fire, authorities said.

Read Full Story at news.yahoo.com

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Comments So Far: 84
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    Aidenag1 year, 4 months ago

    Man they are in for some bad traffic. That junction is pretty vital. Pics from SFchronicle here:

    http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/object/article?f=/c/a...

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      harriermech1 year, 4 months ago

      So much for fire not melting steel. I guess Rosie and all of the conspiracy theorist nuts are going to say Bush blew it up.

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        SubZero1 year, 4 months ago

        Darn it you beat me to the punch line!!!! How many times did we hear?? " Fire can't melt steel".. blah .. blah .. blah..

        I'm with you I think it was all a consiparacy to slow down LA traffic... Those darn republicans they will go to no ends to keep the attention off of Bush...

        Hey was Kennedy any where around??

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        Tenric1 year, 4 months ago

        The government just REALLY wants you to be late for work I guess.

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          mac19641 year, 4 months ago

          It is clear from the video, that the bridge dropped at free-fall speed. A freeway bridge has never in the history of...well freeway bridges, dropped at freefall speeds. Only a freeway bridge in a controlled demolition can drop at freefall speeds.

          Boy, Bush must think we are stupid, this is clearly a vast right wing conspiracy.

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          Petom11 year, 4 months ago

          I once went to a CONCERT that melted. Pretty sure it was the Orange Sunshine.

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          loquaciousrana1 year, 4 months ago

          Actually the jet fuel would have burned out too quick to have melted the steel beams; however, it would have ignited all of the petroleum based office furnishings that would have created an inferno capable of melting the steel girders.

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        MikeReardon1 year, 4 months ago

        The perfect spot to close two major freeways. If it was a smart bomb it could not have done more damage to commuters. The news said Bay Area mass transit is free tomorrow.

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          xtaylor0022x1 year, 4 months ago

          H O L Y S H I T!

          i cant believe that the driver walked out of it, alive! thats insane. well, god bless him with a good healing...2nd degree is pretty rough.

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            Bigtone1 year, 4 months ago

            Fire doesn't melt steel. Talk about stupid. Where are all the Rosie supporters?

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            tkepner1 year, 4 months ago

            Fire Doesn't melt Steel? Gosh, then how do they make it in the first place, if not with fire? According to this Fire Forensic site, http://www.tcforensic.com.au/docs/article10.htm... steel MELTS between 1100-1600 degrees F. This isn't the temp. it gets soft at (the temp. where steel is maleable and deforms) which is lower by a few hundred degrees. And according to this industry standard publication, http://www.mace.manchester.ac.uk/project/resear... & Fire 3557 lo res.pdf,

            Temps in fires can reach 1200 degrees F.

            Oh, look at that, the two temps cross! Gosh, wouldn't you know it, a gasoline fire CAN soften steel and concrete to the point of failure!

            And it took me only an hour find these facts. Looks like the conspiracy-theory people haven't even done a little bit of their homework, they just make up their facts!

            Terry - www.tkepner.com - T-shirts, Mugs, Stickers, Buttons, & More... with an Attitude!

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              loquaciousrana1 year, 4 months ago

              They are not looking for scientific facts. Anyone with a grade school chemistry education knows that metals like steel are heat conducive. They not only melt, but they also expand/contract with temperature variations. That is one of property characteristics of metals taught in grammar school.

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            pacificmist1 year, 4 months ago

            I only live about 150 miles north of SF sounds bad.

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              innocent-bystander1 year, 4 months ago

              To go south from Berkeley to Oakland you have to go out on the Bay Bridge and turn around midspan at Treasure Island.

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                MikeReardon1 year, 4 months ago

                San Francisco 11 pm KGO 7 News fire department said it took 21 min. for the fire to take down the steel in the freeway. They did the comparison to the World Trade Center fires.

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                  NoWayMan1 year, 4 months ago

                  I'm no rosie fan, and I don't have a degree in metallurgy, but I see alot of people on here saying that this fire melted the steel beams.

                  now, the only story I've seen so far on this (the same story thats reprinted on every news site it seems) is from the AP. and in that story it doesn't say the metal beams were melted.

                  it says:

                  Witnesses reported flames rising up to 200 feet into the air. Heat exceeded 2,750 degrees and caused the steel beams holding up the interchange from eastbound I-80 to eastbound Interstate 580 above to buckle and bolts holding the structure together to melt, leading to the collapse, California Department of Transportation director Will Kempton said.

                  so the steel beams didn't melt according to Will Kempton. what melted were the bolts that held the beams together, which caused the structure to collapse.

                  just FYI.

                  and thank god no one was killed.

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                    zaph221 year, 4 months ago

                    and what were those bolts made out of? And the steel did buckle, what do you think caused that? Them being afraid of fire? LMAO, even when it happens and there is no denying it, it gets denied. Everyone that still believes fire won't melt steel really needs to visit a steel mill.

                    and was it really an accident you left this out, or didn't you read the whole story... "The fire melted a second interchange from eastbound I-80 to eastbound I-580 located above the first interchange, causing a 250-yard section of the roadway to collapse onto the roadway below, according to the highway patrol"

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                    Tenric1 year, 4 months ago

                    Uh, there's more than just "libs" that use that road you moron.

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                      decipher1 year, 4 months ago

                      nope, aparently everyone in california is stupid, little and liberal.

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                      SlapALib1 year, 4 months ago

                      I've never seen an interchange collapse due to fire. Where's the thermite?

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                        vidman041 year, 4 months ago

                        What, no comments from Rosie or the other truther nuts? Must be in a meeting trying to come up with a way to blame Bush.....

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                          joeblowe1 year, 4 months ago

                          Well, here's a couple of comments (I'm not a Rosie nut, but anyway...): GASOLINE, not jet fuel, and it was burning in the open with plenty of Oxygen available instead of in an enclosed area starved for oxygen. It does raise some interesting questions though, doesn't it? Anybody know if they use the same grade of steel for highway construction that they use for putting up skyscrapers?

                          Oh, and yes, of course fire melts steel, but if you visit a steel mill, you WILL NOT find them using gasoline - or jet fuel - to fire the furnaces. They don't burn hot enough. They use coke (NOT the cola, duh.) and force in air to get the temperature up. Last I heard, anyway.

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                            joeblowe1 year, 4 months ago

                            Any enclosed area will limit oxygen supply to a combustion process. Particularly one burning vigorously. This is evidenced by the emission of black smoke - which are unburned (or partially burned) hydrocarbons.

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                            joeblowe1 year, 4 months ago

                            "easily" - I'm not sure that's the right word. "possibly" under some circumstances - maybe. Try this: take a can of gasoline (not inside your house), put a steel bar over the top of it, and set it on fire. Does the steel melt? Wait awhile. How about now? Wait some more. Now? I'll bet dollars to donuts you will NEVER see a steel bar melt under those conditions. Probably won't even get red-hot. It takes a highly concentrated, well oxygenated flame of that sort to melt steel. OR - maybe a tanker full of gasoline in an open-air burn. DO NOT mistake me for a liberal knucklehead - just pointing out a couple of things for those who dropped out of high school.

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                            zaph221 year, 4 months ago

                            I worked in a steel mill, in a blast furnace dept. to pay for college, I know how it works, I also know there was plenty of oxygen in those bulldings, I think they needed it so all those people working in them could breathe, and then there were huge holes in the towers letting more air in. Besides all that, I don't remember Rosie saying anything about what fueled a fire causing it to melt or not melt, I believe what she said was "for the first time in history fire melted steel" clearly she didn't care what the fuel was, only wanted us all to know that no fire has ever melted steel. But once again, great lib try at distraction from the real issue at hand.

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                          jumpmaster1 year, 4 months ago

                          I thought the bridge collapsed after a team of conspirators worked all week undetected planting shaped charges with remote control detonation.

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                            vor1 year, 4 months ago

                            While you lunatics are talking about nothing but 9/11. This really shows the coming issues we have with our continued lack of investment in our infrastructure. An issue that will continue to be ignored as we pour coffers of borrowed money down the drain in Iraq.

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                              joeblowe1 year, 4 months ago

                              I don't see how having a carload of cops on hand would prevent something like this anyway. It does seem odd that this catastrophic event just HAPPENED to occur right at a very busy critical intersection. A suspicious person MIGHT start to think it was deliberate. Perhaps even just a little test to see what might happen? Of course, with the price of gas what it is, there MUST be cheaper ways to bomb something. Cripes, if you knew where to shop, you could probably get a nuke cheaper than a tanker full of gas...{8>D)=

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                              vor1 year, 4 months ago

                              DO YOU EVEN KNOW WHAT INFRASTRUCTURE IS?

                              Where is there anything about homeland security in my post? I am talking about the physical condition of our infrastructure but I am going to make you look that word up.

                              And I am the moron? You blow my mind man.

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                                vidman041 year, 4 months ago

                                The only problem with that V.O.R., is the California highway system is a state issue, doesn't have anything to do with Federal government policies overseas....

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                              evelyna1 year, 4 months ago

                              Did the driver blow it up himself? This rarely happens.

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                                Tenric1 year, 4 months ago

                                I'm surprised this hasn't happened before. My dad is a trucker and we've watched other trucks do all kinds of stupid stuff when I've gone on the road with him. (Longer hours on the road means you get to see ALL the good stuff). I've also gotten to see the boneyards where they keep all the wrecked trucks. Now, that's some scary stuff.

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                                ListenUP1 year, 4 months ago

                                Looks like a job for Haliburton. (looks like a job BY Haliburton!)

                                BTW, For those of you who THINK Rosie was fired, WRONG. She quit, to pursue a career in Metalurgical Engineering and Hoho Taste Tester.

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                                  jumpmaster1 year, 4 months ago

                                  LOL!

                                  Hostess had better institute a quantity control process with her. She could put them out of business if they turn their backs on her.

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                                  decipher1 year, 4 months ago

                                  i can't believe that some of you (slappy, libssuck et al) missed this. the truck was hauling gasoline.... where does gasoline come from? oil. where does oil come from? you know where it comes from. this was obviously an islamoterriorist act and you guys missed your chance rub our liberal noses in it.

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                                    SlapALib1 year, 4 months ago

                                    It was obviously a PNAC plot to take the heat off the WTC collapse story, decipher. Get with it.

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                                      jumpmaster1 year, 4 months ago

                                      "islamoterriorist act"

                                      What the heck?

                                      There are medications that may help with this condition.

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                                      kriicket1 year, 4 months ago

                                      First it was moo moo, now its HoHo taste tester...these get better and better....gives me a good chuckle.

                                      Anyway.......sounds like traffic for the people in the area are going to have it rough for a while. Sure am glad the truck driver didn't sustain worse injuries. Hope his recovery is speedy.

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                                        eviln3d1 year, 4 months ago

                                        Considering the truck driver was speeding and caused this problem I'm sure he'll find himself with so many lawsuits he'll wish he was dead.

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                                        innocent-bystander1 year, 4 months ago

                                        I'm no expert but I'll take a look. It's 5 minutes from work. It is in the perfect spot where two freeways, north- south and east-west, meet before the Bay Bridge approach. It is in the right spot to cause massive problems. If the beams are not melted the driver must be a mossad/CIA agent trying to aggitate Berkeley leftists, Mayor Newsome and President Pelosi. If the beams are melted I know I'm after a gas station video of an anomaly that I can say is an Exocet missile.

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                                          jumpmaster1 year, 4 months ago

                                          "trying to aggitate Berkeley leftists"

                                          This alone is worth the price of admission.

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                                        aceofspades11 year, 4 months ago

                                        After seeing months of postings by those who call themselves "truthers" denying scientific fact as to the effect of heat upon building materials, I have come to the realisation that no amount of actual fact & reasoning will change their misguided beliefs. So to them the only answer I have is - YOU ARE A BUNCH OF NEANDERTHAL IDIOTS

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                                          rockman0691 year, 4 months ago

                                          At least you recognize the fact, both the first and the last.

                                          Oh snap! could he be talking about me????

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                                          aceofspades11 year, 4 months ago

                                          Tenric - I'm surprised this hasn't happened before--

                                          It has -several times in NY - a couple of years ago a tanker caught fire under an overpass of the NY Thruway

                                          the overhead structure & roadway collapsed

                                          Last spring on Rte 7 in Ridgefield Ct a tanker caught fire on a small bridge over the Norwalk River - people I know who were there said it sounded like a large bomb going off & it caused a smoke flume reminiscent of 9/11 but on a smaller scale- We must use steel with a lot of wood in it here on the East coast - because those bridges somehow collapsed just from the heat of the fire.

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                                            eviln3d1 year, 4 months ago

                                            I think its the result of older bridges when steel was more impure and the greater number of mafia families and shady contractors in the North East... just look at the Big Dig for a shining example of Yankee quality.

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                                            eviln3d1 year, 4 months ago

                                            Truth is... The 9/11 truth seekers were getting close so very close to the truth that the Black Ops needed to stop further digging at the truth... First they convinced Rosie that she was way to good for ABC so she would leave The View (sources in side Black Ops squad 2 said they were tempted to offer her a life times supply of ice cream but were afraid it would cost to much) - it didn't matter Rosie was gone. Now Black Ops Squad 1 was set to initiate project Crossroads. They waited for a tanker truck then quickly shot out its tires with frozen water bullets to avoid detection. As the truck sat burning a crew of men set about thermite charges to bring down the roadway. The original target was supposed to have been an intersection in Orlando that would have used Bush's brother as a helper, but as people enjoy Disney World they decided to do it on a roadway in a city at odds with the President.

                                            And if you believe this, I might be willing to sell you shares in my siberian timshare.

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                                              SlapALib1 year, 4 months ago

                                              We all knew that was a load of crap, eviln3d. Everyone knows if a black ops team was involved in taking out Rosie they would have had her break her neck on a flight of stairs by way of a Ho-Ho lure.

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                                            aceofspades11 year, 4 months ago

                                            eviln - I don't know why I'm even bothering to respond to

                                            your nonsense --- so I won't

                                            Reply
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