VIDEO: Aug. 1, 2022 marks 15 years since the Interstate 35 bridge in Minneapolis collapsed, killing 13 people and injuring over a hundred others. For at least one Iowan who was responding in the aftermath, it still feels recent.
Ankeny Fire Chief James Clack started the job back in 2014, but before that, he held the same job in Minneapolis.
Remembering when he first arrived on the scene of the collapse, Clack said, "It was almost surreal. It looked like a movie set, almost. That was the first thing that went through my mind: 'Is this real?'"
Aug. 1 has been an important date for Clack for a long time, even before the accident.
"I think about it every year. August 1 happens to be my wedding anniversary, so [my wife and I] were going to go out to dinner that night," he said.
But those plans were interrupted by a flurry of calls over the radio.