Posted on Wednesday, 6th December 2006 by Patrick Dorwin
There was a huge explosion on 30th & Canal (Between the casino and stadium). People all over the area felt and heard the explosion.
This is a 4 alarm fire, total building collapse and 30 people are reported injured.
Traffic heading into downtown looks to be at a stand still. This is just blocks south of the interstate.
They (Channel 12 news) believes it is the Falk Corporation, a major employer in Milwaukee.
Telephones seem to be out all over that area. Channel 12 news reports that their phone lines are out, they are on 19th & Wells.
WOW, chopper pictures are amazing, this is a HUGE fire scene. Looks like more than one city block and other buildings around it are damaged.
They estimate about a 2 to 3 block area are burning.
My thoughts and prayers are with the family members of Falk employees that don’t know what is happening. There are no reports of deaths, I hope that this report does not change.
The paper’s Day Watch is on the story.
Chanel 4 reports that the explosion was a large propane tank.
Windows are reported to have been blown out as far away as 35 & National.
Channel 4, Chanel 6 and Channel 12 all have coverage on their websites.
The temperatures are a little warmer today, it is about 34, so luckily the fire department doesn’t have problems with ice on top of this.
Update from AP
Falk employee David L. Mays, 61, said the company began to evacuate workers earlier Wednesday after a leak occurred in one of six large propane tanks behind a building. He and others were outside when the tank exploded.
“It sounded like when I was in Vietnam, incoming mortar rounds,” he said.
The impact knocked him down and flipped over his car, destroying it.
“But I’m OK,” Mays said.
For emergency information, the city has set up a hotline, the number is: (414) 286-3616
2 deaths confirmed
Milwaukee County Medical Examiner confirms that there have been two people killed in this explosion. It is believed that one other person is still missing.
1:30 Update
They now confirm three deaths, and the mayor said “an unconfirmed number of missing.” When pressed, he says he put it that way because they just aren’t sure if anyone else is unaccounted for, so hopefully, this number will not grow.
I think it is amazing that the number if fatalities is as low as it is, with the amount of destruction, it could have easily been much higher.
Kudos to all those that helped out in this tragedy. The First Responders did their usual outstanding job, neighboring businesses like Palermos Pizza, and especially The Milwaukee Brewers, who opened Miller Park and brought in 100 people to see to the needs of the Falk employees and give the police and other agencies the room they needed to work.
Do you work at Falk? Would you like to talk about what you seen or experienced?
Dan Deibert from WISN Radio’s Early Spin would like to contact Falk employees, they (and all of us) would really like to know what your experiences were this morning. Please click here to get Dan’s contact information.
You are also of course welcome to leave any comments here as well.
5:30 update. Victims identified.
Thoughts and prayers go out to the families of the following victims of the explosion.
Curtis J. Lane, 38, of Oconomowoc.
Thomas M. Letendre, 49, of Milwaukee.
Daniel T. Kuster, 35, of Mayville.
There is also another man in “a life threatening condition” at Froedtert Hospital, as well as 45 others that were taken to 8 local hospitals.
Posted in Home | Comments (15)
December 6th, 2006 at 9:55 am
It truly will be a Miracle on Canal Street if things remain as no deaths.
December 6th, 2006 at 10:05 am
You are right Andy. With an explosion that blew cars over and blew out windows many blocks away, it is amazing that we aren’t talking about body counts. I am sure that our thoughts and prayers are with all of the people, and their families involved.
December 6th, 2006 at 10:29 am
One person is reported missing…
December 6th, 2006 at 10:49 am
My front window was blown out, at 30th and Juneau. I came home from work, which meant turning around partway to Stevens Point, and put in the storm window.
The farthest window report I heard was from 76th and Howard; the farthest report of hearing it was from Muskego.
December 6th, 2006 at 11:02 am
2 deaths confirmed
Milwaukee County Medical Examiner confirms that there have been two people killed in this explosion. It is believed that one other person is still missing.
Thoughts and prayers go out to their families.
December 6th, 2006 at 11:27 am
[...] UPDATE: Patrick at Badger Blogger has local television coverage: [...]
December 6th, 2006 at 12:22 pm
My thoughts and prayers go out to the families.
December 6th, 2006 at 1:52 pm
Just found out a friend’s father-in-law works for Falk. She thinks he’s okay but is still waiting word.
This is terrible, which I’ve been saying all day.
My heart goes out to the families and friends of those Falk employees.
December 6th, 2006 at 3:29 pm
The seismography equipment at UWM picked up the explosion, you can see the graph here.
December 6th, 2006 at 4:10 pm
Patrick, I hope you don’t mind me posting this here… if so… well I guess that’s why they put a delete button in the admin section.
Just trying to enlist the help of the blogosphere here. We are trying to make contact with any Falk employee that witnessed the explosion today. We can talk about it all we want but to understand the true magnitude of this event, we’d love to talk with anyone that actually witnessed it.
If you know anyone (or are anyone) that would be willing to talk about it, please email me dandeibert@earlyspin.com or call me at 262.456.5341
December 6th, 2006 at 4:13 pm
I threw a link up at the BBA too.
December 6th, 2006 at 4:50 pm
Wow, reports say that the propane tank that blew up held 170,000 of fuel… Wow, this could have been so much worse than it was.
December 6th, 2006 at 4:55 pm
The pilot light on my oven is out. Am I hungry enough to relight it? Yeah, but it crossed my mind…
December 6th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
Thanks for posting this Patrick
December 7th, 2006 at 12:50 am
Serious stuff first – kudos to those at Falk who detected the danger and began the evacuation. They are true heroes and saved many lives.
On a lighter note – I’d hate to have to make a claim on my car if it were one of those on the lot. How do you begin to explain to your insurance company?
I do hope that this story remains unbelievably and relatively free of sad news.