Train Wreck
Even though I was an adult when I came to Olympia, I learned right away about the various disasters that'd happened right here. One was a train wreck downtown. The building where Olympic Outfitters is now was the train station, but the train didn't stop, and ran through it and into the China Clipper. As I heard it, anyway -- and I haven't yet read the newspaper article so I might have something wrong. Newspaper article? Yes -- because today is the 40th anniversary of that day. Look at the photographs -- doesn't it look even longer ago? How the world has changed! (trite thought)
"The only thing that saved the community from total devastation was the fact that that traffic light was on red," Shacklett said.

That seems rather an overstatement. On the other hand, why not go with the overstatement thing:
"The only thing that saved the world from total devastation was that the traffic light was on red." ... hmmmm... Wait... sitting at the stoplight at that moment were Papa Doc and Pol Pot, while Osama bin Laden and Paula Hitler were in the back seat of sedan driven by Idi Amin. The only thing that launched the world into devastation was that the traffic light was red... uh... hmmmm...
*Yes, yes, I know -- Paula Hitler didn't do anything that devastated the world... that I know of, but her name makes me chortle.