NORTH MIAMI, Fla.-- A fuel tanker crashed and fell off Interstate 95 and landed on a church parking lot below Monday morning.
The tanker fell off the highway, landed in the parking lot at St. James Catholic Church below and exploded at about 9 a.m.
Investigators said the tanker hit a pickup truck and flipped over the side of the interstate's guardrail. The driver of the tanker was killed.
Ironically, the explosion happened near fire station No. 19.
"If it had been 100 more feet it would have been right on top of the firehouse," Capt. Alex Pellon said.
Firefighters from the station battled the flames, working to keep them from spreading to the church, until foam trucks from Miami International and Opa-locka airports arrived. In all, 30 fire units were dispatched.
One car parked in a yard nearby also caught fire.
"I jumped up, opened up the front door and I just seen explosions," said owner Sue Hendricks. "I went out the back door, left it open, went out the gate and thank God the gate wasn't locked."
At least she didn't have to worry about being stuck in traffic.
The fire forced authorities to close the southbound lanes of the interstate in the area. By noon Monday, the northbound ramp onto I-95 from 135th Street remained closed, as did the far right-hand southbound lanes.
The school at St. James Catholic Church evacuated all 290 pre-kindergarten through eighth-grade students as a precaution. They were later allowed to return, but some parents chose to pick up their children instead.
None of the children were hurt, though some said they were frightened.
"All of a sudden I hear kids screaming and it wasn't like fun screaming, but it was, like, terrified screams, like they were being attacked or something," said Nikol Gonzalez, a seventh-grade student at the school.
Infrastructure Corportation of America engineers, who are contracted by the state Department of Transportation, were examining the overpass to determine if was safe.
The Florida Highway Patrol said the tanker is believed to have been owned by a company in the Jacksonville area.
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