15 Big Rigs crash and burn in tunnel on I-5 – 2 Dead

15 Big Rigs crash and burn in tunnel on I-5 – 2 Dead

Posted on Oct 13, 2007 in U.S. Trucking News by PMC Comments Off

Two people died and 10 were injured in a fiery multi-vehicle crash in an Interstate 5 tunnel south of Santa Clarita late Friday, closing the freeway in both directions until at least Sunday as authorities struggle to determine whether the main roadway suffered structural damage.

Authorities were still trying to put out the tunnel fire this afternoon and estimating that the operation could take days.

 

 

A Caltrans spokesman said at midafternoon that traffic heading south on the I-5 from Bakersfield was

being diverted to Magic MountainParkway in Santa Clarita, then sent south on San Fernando Road to the 14 Freeway and south on the 14 back to the I-5.

Eight of the 10 injuries were reported as minor, with the others said to be of moderate severity. The dead were not immediately identified.

As of midafternoon, authorities were unsure how long the main north-south route connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco would be closed. But Los Angeles County Fire Department spokesman Jason Hurd said it could be days.

Hurd forecast that “it will at least be into tomorrow [Sunday] before we can gain entry” to the center of the tunnel, where he estimated that temperatures had reached as high as 1,000 to 2,000 degrees for many hours and may have damaged the tunnel’s concrete walls.

He said that “it could take days to put the fire out — we don’t even know what type of vehicles are inside, the damage is so extreme.”

The chain-reaction crash occurred in the short tunnel under all eight lanes of the freeway. The tunnel is designated for trucks but is often used by cars as well.

Firefighters said the entire tunnel, which extends at least 200 feet, was engulfed in flames for hours after at least one trucks, which was carrying fuel, caught fire. Witnesses reported a series of explosions. As many as 15 trucks may have been involved, as well as at least one passenger car that was flattened near the tunnel’s entrance.

Authorities took reporters to the mouth of the tunnel at 2 p.m. today, where they saw an entrance jammed with parts of charred big rigs and tow trucks and tractors beginning to clear wreckage.

Victoria Cibrian was conducting a vigil nearby, waiting for word about her missing husband, Ricardo, a truck driver she fears may have been trapped inside. Cibrian, of Los Angeles, said a colleague of his called her this morning to tell her that her husband was in the crash. “I couldn’t wait at home anymore so I came here,” she said.

Los Angeles County Deputy Fire Chief John Tripp said the fire was so intense that chunks of concrete exploded off the sides of the tunnel.

“It has impacted the structural stability of the tunnel,” he said, but authorities were unsure to what extent.

By late morning, Tripp said, firefighters who had fought the blaze with water and foam from both ends of the tunnel had still not been able to explore it.

Although Tripp said there were no indications that any of the trucks was carrying hazardous materials, officials were unwilling to explore until the fire was extinguished and they were certain there was no danger.

California Highway Patrol spokesman John Lutz said Caltrans inspectors were examining the tunnel’s mouth.

Mark DeSio, spokesman for the California Department of Transportation, said at noon that highway inspectors had seen evidence that the tunnel needed “some shoring” up. But they did not notice any sagging, which would have indicated more severe damage. They need to check further, he said.

DeSio said his boss, Caltrans Director Will Kempton, was en route to the scene from Northern California and had already freed up as much as $1.5 million for emergency repairs.

Interstate 5 is of vital commercial importance, but detours and disruptions along its 1,381-mile length, from the Mexican border to Canada, have become increasingly common. Many disruptions have been attributed to a combination of steadily increasing traffic and a steady deterioration of roadways.

Truckers familiar with the tunnel described it as one of the most dangerous spots on the I-5.

“It curves,” said Luis Ceja, 49, of Norwalk, who said he had been driving trucks for 20 years. “You don’t see what’s ahead.”

Another trucker, Arthur Johnson Jr., 45, of Buckeye, Ariz., confirmed that the curve could cause problems.

“There’s kind of a blind spot, so if you boogie around the bend too fast and there’s somebody stopped in the tunnel, it’ll be ‘boom-boom-boom.’ I bet that’s what happened.”

Miguel Granados, a trucker who was being treated today at Providence Holy Cross Medical Center in Mission Hills, told a relative that he drove his truck into the tunnel just after the initial accident and that his vehicle was followed by others. His brother-in-law, Oscar Gonzalez, said Granados was being treated for smoke inhalation.

Tags: California, chain reaction accident, I-5, Newhall Pass, Professional American truckers