A large warehouse fire shut down multiple lanes on the Lloyd Expressway between U.S. 41 and Main Street, causing major delays for commuting campus students on Monday.

“I was driving down the Lloyd Expressway, it was just really smoky,” said Anthony Marx, computer science major. “None of the roads were closed off, just one fire truck was putting out what was remaining of the fire. I didn’t see any visible flames or anything but it was just really hazy for like, maybe 500 ft.” 

“I don’t technically have my license yet, so it was definitely a weird experience because I’m trying to learn, so it was my first time dealing with traffic,” said Jonathan Frieri, freshman art major. “We had to take a detour, so it was interesting.” 

The Evansville and Vanderburgh County EMA Twitter account announced the following roads were closed due to the fire:

• West Bound Lloyd Expressway
• East Franklin Street from North Morton Avenue to North Kentucky Avenue
• North Morton Avenue from East Franklin Street to Division Street
• Division Street from North Morton Avenue to North Kentucky Avenue
• North Kentucky Avenue from Division Street to East Franklin Avenue

Students said the fire caused them to be late for class. 

“I had to take a different route,” Aidan Johnson, freshman undecided major said. “It probably took me 15 extra minutes. I live on the east side of town, I don’t know, I just never taken a route besides the Lloyd Expressway.”

“Usually it’s a 20 minute drive to campus, but it took closer to 35 minutes to get to campus this morning,” said Jonah Addis, sophomore radio and television major. “They were diverting traffic on the Lloyd to 41 South, so we were able to hop onto William’s Street, get back over to Garmin and take Division Street back to the Lloyd, but it was enough of a detour to feel like we were running behind.”

“I was like 15 minutes late to class. The exit that I took for the Lloyd was backed off and the other way I could go was blocked off, so I’d take a detour,” said Hannah Babbitt, junior advertising major. “It’s pretty far off. I went through Oak Hill but whenever I looked it up on the maps, both of the ways that it was trying to tell me to go were blocked off.”

According to The Evansville Courier & Press, the fire started at around 5 am and hit many buildings in the area. Almost every firetruck in the city responded to the fire including a unit from Henderson, Kentucky. The smoke was so thick that weather radars picked it up as a storm cloud.

Lexi Reed, junior college studies and journalism major, said the fire had spread to a house close to where she was babysitting.

“So I saw somewhere that there was a fire,” Reed said. “I was babysitting, so I didn’t ride down the Lloyd to get to campus at that time, but whenever I left babysitting, there was smoke everywhere and I could smell fire and I was like ‘holy crap, you can smell all the way from over here’ and I’m a while away. But then I actually just rounded the corner and there was another house on fire.”

Students said they were surprised by the size of the fire.

“I was driving my sister to school, it was probably around 7:30 and there was a huge fire,” Johnson said. “I was like, ‘wow, that’s really big,’ and I didn’t know what it was. Then I checked on EvansvilleWatch and it said a warehouse was on fire. I was like, ‘wow that’s the biggest fire I’ve ever seen in Evansville.’ It was crazy.”

“It was a giant factory just flame coming out,” said Ian Blalock, freshman special education major. “It looked like it was badly burned. I don’t know what caused it though, it looked probably about the size of Whirlpool’s building.”

According to The Evansville Courier & Press, the fire was contained by 9:15 a.m. Monday and was no longer a threat to spread further. Evansville Fire Department spokesman Mike Larson said there were no reported injuries. There was no word on a possible cause.