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http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/31/us/atlanta-interstate-85-fire- collapse/index.html I-85 collapse: Three arrested after major fire under Atlanta highway By Jason Hanna, Faith Karimi <http://www.cnn.com/profiles/faith-karimi> and Steve Almasy, CNN Updated 7:55 AM ET, Sat April 1, 2017 <image001.jpg> JUST WATCHED Fire causes Atlanta interstate to collapse Replay Atlanta (CNN)A man has been arrested on suspicion of intentionally setting a huge fire that brought down part of an elevated interstate highway in Atlanta, a collapse that is expected to complicate traffic for months in one of the nation's most congested cities <http://inrix.com/scorecard/>. Basil Eleby and two other people -- all believed by investigators to be homeless -- have been arrested in connection with Thursday evening's fire under Interstate 85, Jay Florence, deputy insurance and safety fire commissioner, said Friday. I-85 collapse: By the numbers 220,000-plus: Estimated number of cars that drive through that stretch of I-85 daily 6:12 p.m. ET Thursday: Atlanta firefighters get first call about the fire Around 7 p.m.: Part of the interstate collapses 40 feet: Height of the wall of fire 350 feet: Length of the sections of I-85 that need to be replaced in each direction 50%: Traffic increase on the I-285 bypass the day after the collapse The fire, which started in a state-owned storage lot under the highway, caused part of northbound I-85 to collapse Thursday evening -- injuring no one <http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/31/us/no-deaths-atlanta-interstate-fire/index.html> -- and also damaged the southbound portion, forcing the closure of all five lanes in each direction for the foreseeable future. Eleby has been charged with first-degree criminal damage to property, Florence said. The other two -- Sophia Bruner and Barry Thomas -- have been charged with criminal trespassing. Investigators believe Eleby started the fire intentionally, and that Bruner and Thomas were with him, Florence said. Read More Florence didn't say how investigators came to suspect the trio, or say anything about a motive. Neither did he say how the fire started. <image002.jpg> Flames rise Thursday evening along an elevated stretch of Interstate 85 north of downtown Atlanta. Though all three suspects were taken to jail, only Eleby remained in custody Friday night, Atlanta fire department spokesman Cortez Stafford said. The fire began in a fenced-in lot where the state stored high-density plastic pipes frequently used in the transportation industry. The collapse and other damage is expected to shut that portion of I-85 -- one of the Southeast's major north-south arteries -- for at least several months. The closure comes at a sensitive time for a city accustomed to gridlock. Hordes of spring break vacationers are poised to drive though the regional hub, and the Atlanta Braves will play this season at their new stadium along the I-285 bypass, which already has seen a surge in traffic since I-85 was forced to close. "I think it's as serious a transportation crisis as we could have," Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said Thursday evening. Latest developments • It will take "at least several months" to rebuild the collapsed and otherwise damaged portions of I-85, Georgia Department of Transportation Commissioner Russell McMurry told reporters Friday afternoon. • Three sections of northbound I-85 -- including the part that collapsed -- and three sections of southbound I-85 will have to be replaced, McMurry said. That's 350 feet of highway -- nearly a football field -- in each direction, he said. Demolition of these sections started Friday and will last into Monday, McMurry said. • The fire started in a fenced-in area under the expressway where the state stores construction materials, McMurry said. Those materials include what he first said were PVC pipes, then later described as HDPE -- high-density polyethylene -- pipes. • Measuring the traffic impact with that section of I-85 closed, there has been a 50% increase on I-285 that rings the city and a 25% increase in traffic on major streets near the closed area, he said. 'Fell with a big kaboom' The fire started Thursday evening under I-85 in northeast Atlanta, north of the highway's split with I-75. At first, I-85 motorists drove through the smoke, and firefighters fought the flames below. It eventually grew into a massive fireball. "There was a 40-feet or higher wall of fire. Power lines were falling and arcing heavily and falling in the streets," Stafford, the spokesman for Atlanta Fire Rescue, told CNN. The elevated span of highway collapsed about 7 p.m. Thursday as crews battling the fire got out of danger's way, fire officials said. As concrete began falling from under the bridge, firefighters were asked to step back, Stafford said. "Not even two minutes later, the highway fell with a big 'kaboom.' (It) knocked our guys back." While the highway is normally jammed with cars around that time, there were no fatalities, Reed said, as traffic flow had been halted. More than 220,000 cars per day <http://trafficserver.transmetric.com/gdot-prod/tcdb.jsp?siteid=1215970> are estimated to drive through that stretch of the interstate. Officials scrambled to come up with alternate routes <http://www.dot.ga.gov/AboutGeorgia/Pages/GDOTAnnouncementDetails.aspx?postID=153> and encouraged riders to use public transit. Surreal scenes Social media users posted surreal images showing motorists -- before the collapse -- choosing to drive into the black smoke that billowed onto the highway as the fire burned beneath them. CNN's Eliott C. McLaughlin was driving north on I-85 during the evening rush hour when he saw smoke rising from underneath the elevated highway. Many cars on the left side of the five-lane section barreled through the thick black smoke. They disappeared into the darkness as they drove, he said. McLaughlin slowly followed the taillights of an SUV through the smoke. <image003.jpg> Firefighters battle the fire that eventually led to the collapse of part of I-85 in northeast Atlanta. Soon, interstate traffic was stopped and turned around, creating long jams. What caused the fire? McMurry, the state transportation boss, said it wasn't immediately clear what started the fire at the state's construction-equipment storage area near the bridge. <image004.jpg> Sections of northbound and southbound I-85 will have to be replaced -- 350 feet in both directions. McMurry initially said the materials stored under the bridge were PVC pipes but later said they were HDPE -- high-density polyethylene -- pipes. He said the conduits are used in the "traffic management, cabling, fiber-optic and wire network." Atlanta bridge collapse and fire: Why there were no fatalities <http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/31/us/no-deaths-atlanta-interstate-fire/index.html> The material had been stored there "for some time, probably since 2006 or (2007)," McMurry said. "We're as eager to learn the cause of this fire as anyone," he said. HDPE pipes are widely used in the transportation industry to build "smart" highways that provide information to drivers, control traffic signal lights and tollways. The pipes are also used in the distribution of natural gas and by telecommunication companies such as AT&T and Google Fiber. Having construction materials stored under a highway is something out of the ordinary. They are usually stored in distribution yards, experts said. Tony Radoszewski, president of the Plastics Pipe Institute, a trade group based in Irving, Texas, told CNN the flammability of HDPE is relatively low. If HDPE materials burn, they would have to be exposed to a high temperature flame for a considerable amount of time, Radoszewski explained. "Somebody had to start a fire. It doesn't combust by itself, it needs fuel," Radoszewski told CNN. "Someone had to do it," Radoszewski said. "It's not like someone would have dropped a match and it started." The Environmental Protection Agency took samples of the air and of the water in a nearby creek; results will be available in about two weeks, EPA spokesman Larry Lincoln said. 'It's going to take some time' I-85 collapse in Atlanta: What caused it? <http://www.cnn.com/2017/03/31/us/atlanta-interstate-85-fire-collapse-cause/index.html> Authorities worked through the night to access the bridge and ensure the risks from the collapse were contained. Smoke still rose from the site Friday morning. Most structural materials lose strength when subjected to high temperature, meaning the concrete could have been compromised by the heat, said Georgia Tech professor Reginald DesRoches. He said it was too early to tell how long it would be for that part of I-85 to reopen but estimated it could be weeks or months. "It's going to take some time to get it repaired and to get it back in service," the governor said, without offering a time frame for reopening. <image005.jpg> Crews work Friday on a section of I-85 that collapsed during a masive fire. Not business as usual MARTA, Atlanta's rail and bus system, will offer extended service through the weekend taking some of the burden off residents. Atlanta was the fourth most-congested urban area in the United States in 2016 -- and the eighth most congested in the world -- INRIX, a transportation analytics company, said. <image006.jpg> Traffic on I-85 was light Friday morning as drivers were forced onto other routes in metro Atlanta. The INRIX 2016 Global Traffic Scorecard <http://inrix.com/press-releases/los-angeles-tops-inrix-global-congestion-ranking/> said Atlanta trailed Los Angeles, New York and San Francisco nationally, with those three cities ranked the first, third and fourth most-congested cities in the world, respectively. Moscow ranked second on that list. Atlanta has the 12th worst congestion among U.S. cities and is 104th internationally, according to the annual traffic index released by GPS maker TomTom <http://www.tomtom.com/en_gb/trafficindex/list?citySize=LARGE&continent=ALL&country=US> . CNN's Nicole Chavez, Michelle Krupa, Christopher Lett, Nicole Chavez, Amanda Jackson, Chris Boyette, Dave Alsup, Martin Savidge and Jamiel Lynch contributed to this report. <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient&utm_term=icon> Virus-free. www.avast.com <https://www.avast.com/sig-email?utm_medium=email&utm_source=link&utm_campaign=sig-email&utm_content=emailclient&utm_term=link> __._,_.___ ------------------------------ Posted by: "Beowulf" <[email protected]> ------------------------------ Visit Your Group <https://groups.yahoo.com/neo/groups/grendelreport/info;_ylc=X3oDMTJmaWIwZTNzBF9TAzk3MzU5NzE0BGdycElkAzIwMTk0ODA2BGdycHNwSWQDMTcwNTMyMzY2NwRzZWMDdnRsBHNsawN2Z2hwBHN0aW1lAzE0OTEwNTUyMDI-> [image: Yahoo! 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