Driver's amazing pics show more of tanker fire

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) - Kim Norton remembers the few seconds before a tanker exploded on the I-69/I-465 interchange Thursday morning.

"I looked ahead and saw the tanker going up and over the side of the guardrail," he says.

• Check out our special section dedicated to coverage of the tanker explosion

Norton was driving to St. Louis inside the third car behind what would become an inferno.

"It was just one huge rolling ball of flame, burnt the paint off my mirrors and the front of my truck. It was really exciting, for a little bit," said Norton.

Norton is also a 40-year veteran of the Orland Volunteer Fire Department in northeastern Indiana.

"After the first fire apparatus got out there, I assisted them with laying some hose. And then when they got more manpower, they said, 'You probably ought to go back,' so I shot a picture on my way back out from underneath the bridge," said Norton.

Motorist Ed Martin escaped a still smoldering but and was burned on his hands and face. Norton gave first aid to Ed Martin, who's still at Wishard Hospital.

"People were staying back, people were doing the right thing," said Norton. "If you'd give them a direction they did it without question. (I saw) a state trooper, I ran over there, I said, 'Do you have a med kit?' He said, 'Yeah, there's one in my trunk.' I said, 'Could I use it?' He said, 'Sure you can.'"

After all that, Norton shot more pictures.

"It's amazing how the public doesn't give themselves enough credit, they do an outstanding job because for a little while it was very scary."