One of the key things Doucette remembers from his reporting was the importance of paying attention to those who manage infrastructure.ĭoucette saw parallels during the historic flooding in 2019 across the Arkansas River watershed and when barges collided with the Webbers Falls Dam. This, in turn, caused the barge he was controlling to collide with a bridge support. Love, experienced a blackout and lost control of the ship. Joe Dedmon, captain of the tugboat Robert Y. “It adds up for them.”ĭoucette said that Oklahoma officials are seeking to address the impact of trauma on first responders by increasing access to mental health resources. The I-40 bridge disaster was a bridge collapse that occurred southeast of Webbers Falls, Oklahoma on May 26, 2002. “The little, tiny, edgy feeling I had maybe for a year or two going back that way, cringing as you go across the bridge … that’s just a tiny, tiny fraction of what some other folks have to deal with on a daily basis,” he said. Emphasizing the importance of infrastructureĪfter the bridge was repaired, Doucette would cross I-40 when covering other stories and remember interacting with first responders following the tragedy. “They get a chance to talk about somebody that they love and know in a way that goes beyond what happened to them,” he said. “When you try to understand who these people are – and that often means calling their families, sometimes their friends, trying to get an idea of who they are as a person outside of the tragedy – that is a very helpful thing to the folks who are left behind.”ĭoucette added that this experience of sharing their loved one’s story can be cathartic for those who are grieving. If that’s as far as you go, it’s a little bit of a disservice. In 2002, the I-40 Bridge across the Arkansas River near Webbers Falls was hit by a barge and collapsed. “Their identity gets trapped in what happened to them. “A lot of times, with these types of deals, they’re a name, a face, an age and where they are from,” he said. A ceremony was held to remember the 14 people killed when a bridge collapsed in Muskogee County, 20 years ago on May 26 2002. Rather than simply stating the facts of someone’s life, the reporters worked to humanize each person through the stories of those who loved them, Doucette said. The Oklahoman’s coverage of the 14 people killed in the bridge collapse was informed by previous tragedies in the state: the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995 and the tornado. They probably just rolled right up on it and had no idea what was happening until it was too late.” Remembering the victims of I-40 bridge disaster
“They couldn’t really see what was happening,” Doucette said. Remembering the scene, he thought about the drivers, especially those who came upon the bridge shortly after the collapse.