June 9, 2001.  Modesto, California.

"A Modesto firefighter walked out to my position a a couple of minutes later. I figured he'd come to ask me to move, but not so--like me, he was trying to determine when the bridge would fall and where it might go first.  He concluded, along with me, that it would break from south to north."

photo by Ted Benson, copyright 2001 Modesto Bee, used by permission

Tidewater Southern Railway

Burning of the Tuolumne River Bridge