Blast levels Main Street businesses in Bozeman
By TOM LUTEY
Of The Gazette Staff
UPDATE 12:30 p.m. :
Intense heat and structural damage is preventing firefighters from searching a downtown Bozeman blast scene for fatalities, city officials said today.
"We do not have any confirmed reports of casualties at this time," said Chuck Winn, Bozeman assistant city manager. "There is so much damage there and so much fire we cannot get in and do the type of searches that we do. If you haven’t seen this, I cannot describe with it looks like. I’ve worked public safety for 24 years in this city and this is the worst catastrophe I’ve worked."
A gas line explosion shortly after 8 a.m. ripped a giant crater in the north side of the 200 block of East Main Street, where Boodles Restaurant once stood. Bricks and wood from the blast landed two blocks away and littered the parking lot of Bozeman City Hall, where Winn said light fixtures broke off the ceiling and cracks had appeared in the walls.
Witnesses reported debris hanging from the some trees in the outlying residential neighborhoods. Windows in businesses as far as three blocks away from the explosion were shattered. The gas lines in the downtown area are antiquated and lack the shutoff features of modern utilizes. Winn said the gas lines were slowly being shut off, but some were still open and gas blowing from the line continued to burn.
Winn said four buildings in the heart of the city’s historic downtown district were destroyed either by the blast or subsequent flames: Boodles Restaurant, the Rocking R Bar, The American Legion and Montana Trails Gallery are destroyed. Photographs of the site suggested two other businesses might have been destroyed as well.
Gov. Brian Schweitzer, who flew to Bozeman shortly after the explosion, asked firefighters to do what they could to avoid water damage to the Rocky Mountain Rug Gallery, which abuts the west end of the disaster area and contains hand-woven Persian rugs priced in the tens of thousands of dollars.
The governor said the state Department of Commerce would be the clearing house for services available to businesses and for employees losing their jobs as result of the explosion. He said the Montana National Guard was ready to respond if called upon. He responded to the crisis as soon as he could.
"I was in my office and we got the call that it occurred and got the incident briefing. I called the pilot and said fire up the plane, we’re going to Bozeman," Schweitzer said.
There are apartments within the two-block radius of the site, which has been evacuated by emergency officials. It isn’t clear how soon people will be allowed back into the area. At two morning press conferences, people affected by the blast wanted to know if they could get into to retrieve their cars or check on businesses. Access would only be allowed once officials evaluated the safety of the area.
Downtown residents in need of housing as a result of the explosion were directed to the American Red Cross office at 300 N. Willson Ave.
Northwestern Energy crews are excavating downtown alleys to reach a place were the gas can be stopped; officials said a second explosion is possible.
The downtown area was abuzz with emergency workers and Winn pleaded with the curious public to stay out of the way. It wasn’t clear if the area is safe. Public works officials were scanning sewer lines in the surrounding area to make sure they weren’t filling with volatile natural gas.
The four affected buildings continued to burn and fire trucks from as far away as Big Sky were being called to the area. Several of the buildings affected were a century old and built at a time when fire fighting was less effective. Consequently, the affected buildings were heavily fire walled to prevent flames from spreading. Winn said the architecture was preventing the flames from spreading too far east or west.
Three blocks of Main Street between Rouse and Tracy avenues have been closed, as has Mendenhall Street. The East Main onramp to U.S. Interstate 90 is shut down.
Hawthorne Elementary School, roughly two blocks northeast of the blast, remains open. Bozeman Public School officials report no damages there.
