A crash/fire on the northbound side of Interstate 91 was reported near exit 16. (WFSB)
Heavy smoke after crash on I-91 in Meriden. (WFSB)
State police tweeted this photo of the cleanup after the crash and fire on I-91.
WFSB viewer Klejdja Qosja took this photo of the scene and called it "A very chilling sight."
This man drove through the fire and totaled his Subaru. He told
WFSB he had no where to go. His vehicle was checked out by firefighters.
(WFSB)
Posted:
July 13, 2015
By Joseph Wenzel IV, News Editor
MERIDEN, CT (WFSB) -
The northbound side of Interstate 91 in Meriden near the Wallingford town line on Monday morning remained closed after a crash involving a oil tanker that caught fire while spilling fuel on the highway.
The crash was reported between exits 16 and 15 around 9:30 a.m.
Meriden
Fire Chief Kenneth Morgan told Eyewitness News the tanker truck with
Ron's Family Fuel out of Plantsville had just loaded 2,900 gallons of
home heating oil when the crash occurred.
State
police are still investigating, but the belief out here is that the
tanker blew a tire, causing the driver to lose control and crash. That
sent the fuel all over the road with the truck going up in flames.
Morgan
said a Good Samaritan behind the tanker, ran up and helped pull the
driver out of the truck. Eyewitness News has learned that driver was
pretty banged up and transported to the hospital.
"He
obviously went off the side of the road, hit the guard rail, and based
on the position of the vehicle, believed he hit the bridge, that spun
the vehicle in the process, ripped the tanker off the chassis of the
truck," Morgan said.
“The tanker truck was in the right lane, I was in the left lane, I heard the pop, all of a sudden he hit the bridge abutment,” Steve Slaiciunas, of Wallingford
said. “And as soon as he hit the bridge abutment, there was an
explosion of gas, piece of the vehicle, gas went flying under my car."
The
crash has closed the northbound side of I-91 between exits 15 and 16
while the southbound side is closed between exits 17 and 15. The one
lane on the southbound side reopened around 11 a.m. and the rest of the
southbound side re-opened around 12:15 p.m.
Department of Transportation officials said the northbound side could be closed for quite some time. State police are hoping to have the northbound side open by rush hour. Crews
need to get the foam off the road, check the road to see if it is
drivable. DOT officials need to come out to check the bridge to make
sure it is stable as well.
Drivers should avoid the area of the crash. State
police tweeted that northbound traffic is being diverted off the
highway at exit 15. Drivers should expect heavy traffic on side roads
and Route 5/15.
Heavy smoke could be seen for miles.
The cause of the crash is still under investigation.
Source: http://www.wfsb.com