Tanker fire

The scene at the northbound I-55 exit at Route K at midday last week resembled Baghdad.

A tanker truck carrying diesel fuel overturned, and the fuel caught fire, sending a towering plume of black smoke into the sky.

Workers at the nearby Red Lobster restaurant and the Victorian Inn rushed to help the truck driver, who got out of the truck by himself but was burned and bloody.

Some tied an apron and shirt around his head and put his burned hands in lukewarm water.

Others comforted him.

Fire departments from all over the region responded and suppressed the blaze quickly.

By all accounts, everyone who responded to the accident performed admirably and even heroically.

Terry Church, the injured trucker, expects to be back to work in a few weeks.

The wrong-way driver who came down the offramp of I-55 and crashed into the truck has been charged with second-degree assault, a felony. He was not injured.

Everyone who saw the fiery accident or happened upon it immediately afterward assumed grievous injuries must have been sustained.

Both Terry Church and the wrong-way driver had a lucky day.