Around this time 41 years ago, I was just starting back to classes for winter quarter at the University of Tennessee. Yes, we were on quarters back then. After the month-long holiday break, I was just a week into my studies when I came down with a raging case of mononucleosis. My boyfriend at the time, it turns out, did not just have a cold. I had to call all my professors to see if they would excuse me missing a few weeks of classes as long as I kept up with work. If not, I would have to drop the class. All were completely cool with it.
The previous quarter, my first, got off to a much better start for me. But just as registration was wrapping up in mid-September 1984 (we were a proper country then, there was no going back to school, ANY school, before Labor Day), Knoxville faced down one of the greatest conflagrations in its history.
It was Sept. 19, 1984. I was done with what I needed to do on campus before classes started and was headed back to Fountain City on my usual route, 17th Street to Dale Avenue to 275 North. Before I even got on the interstate, I could see the huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the sky. Once I was on 275, I could see the flames. Traffic going in both directions was slowed by the sight of the inferno. The ConAgra grain plant was on its way to absolute ruin.
A little before noon, an explosion occurred in the 10-story, concrete grain elevator, sending chunks of debris into other buildings. Two more explosions happened roughly 20 and 40 minutes after the first. Though, amazingly, most of the employees on site safely evacuated, three in the immediate area of the first blast were killed and 10 others were injured. Cars and semi-trucks were mangled. It took the full weight of the Knoxville Fire Department to get the fire under control. The KFD was on site for days following monitoring for and putting out hotspots…