Imagine you are driving into the city. You’re either going to work, or just going to shop or hang out with friends when suddenly, part of the road collapses right in front of your eyes. On March 30 around 6:00 p.m., a fire was started underneath part of I-85 near Piedmont Road in northeast Atlanta. After nearly an hour under a constant blaze, an elevated portion of the northbound interstate began to collapse during rush hour, which is one of the most busy times of the day, and one of the worst times for an accident.

Firefighters arrived on the scene shortly before the collapse. They were able to detect the possible danger of the road giving way by the amount of heat building up. The firefighters acted quickly and blocked all incoming traffic. By doing this, no lives were lost in the accident. Despite the damage being mainly to the northbound side of I-85, Atlanta DOT officials said that some southbound portions of the highway also received damage and may need replaced.

Upon investigation, three people were arrested under suspicion of arson that led to the fire under the interstate, and all three are believed to be homeless. The three people are identified as Basil Eleby, Sophia Bruner and Barry Thomas. All three are facing charges, however Eleby is the only one facing more severe charges. There currently is some dispute over what exactly caused the fire, but all blame points at Eleby, who is being charged with first-degree arson and criminal damage to property while Bruner and Thomas on the other hand, only face criminal trespass charges.

With more than 250,000 drivers passing through I-85 a day, this collapse causes a major issue for the state of Atlanta and people wanting to travel. The shutdown affects a nearly three mile wide section of the highway because of the damages to the southbound portion of the interstate. Officials say that it could take months for all of the repairs to be completed and for traffic to resume normally.

The fire was allegedly ignited under an elevated portion of the highway. However, near the area of the flame was a storage area for construction materials, one of the many places that the state uses to store things needed in case an incident like this occurs. Those items were pipes, specifically known as High Density Polyethylene (HDPE) pipes. Fortunately, the pipes’ flammability is low, which makes material gathering somewhat simpler, even if by a small fraction.

Eleby was the only one of the three involved detained. He appeared in court on April 14. Eleby originally was placed on a $200,000 bond, but the judge drastically lowered the bond to $10,000 dollars due to his homelessness. In addition, the judge included a few conditions with the bond, some of those being that Eleby will not have contact with witnesses in the case, he cannot violate any laws on the bond, he must be at least 1,000 yards away from the scene unless he is with lawyers and he must return to court on June 16, or a warrant will be issued for his arrest.