Interstate 4's deadly pileup claimed its fourth life this afternoon. Disney officials confirmed that one of its employees died in the accident. Darren Scott Snyder worked in engineering services on the maintenance team at the Animal Kingdom. And nearly 12 hours after multiple cars and tractor trailers slammed into each other, forcing the highway's closure, authorities could not say when it would reopen. (Find routes around the closed area.) Investigators continue to pick through and examine the two miles of mangled vehicles. Miles away, Division of Forestry officials were looking into a 10-acre controlled burn that escaped firefighters, expanding to 400 acres and billowing thick smoke into the air. That smoke plus fog that rolled into the area are believed to have cut visibility for motorists along I-4 early this morning. Ten accidents involving 70 vehicles killed four people and injured 37 others. Five of them are in critical condition, according to FHP. The largest of the accidents involved 43 vehicles. Polk County deputy sheriff Jack "Carlton" Turner, 26, was the first on the chaotic scene, having been dispatched at 4:54 a.m. He was met by a wall of dense fog and was soon swept into the mess. He wasn't even able to get out of his car before his cruiser was hit multiple times. Injured, he pulled himself out and rescued victims from the wreckage. Turner, a member of the Emergency Response and SWAT teams, described the scene to Polk Sheriff Grady Judd like this: "I could still hear metal grinding as cars went into each other. I did all that I could but I watched a man burn to death today." At 5:07 a.m., FHP troopers began to shutdown the highway --- a 15-mile stretch between U.S. Highway 27 and State Road 570. But news of a possible problem had been brewing since the night before. The Division of Forestry notified the FHP at 7:03 p.m. Tuesday night of potential smoke problems from the controlled burn, as part of a formalized interagency agreement. FHP said they would monitor I-4 and close it if needed. FHP also notified the state Department of Transportation, which put out signs with flashing lights that warned of the smoke. The National Weather Service in Melbourne this morning issued a special weather report warning commuters that visibility in the Polk County area would be down to zero because of smoke from brush fires and fog. Throughout the day, officials disagreed about the role the smoke and fog played in the crash. FHP Sgt. Jorge Delahoz said the smoke from the fire may have had some impact, but at the time of the crash it was the fog that reduced visibility in the area. He said people were probably driving at 50 or 70 miles per hour or faster. A forestry official said he would not say conclusively what caused the pileup until his investigators issued a final report, possibly in the coming week. But the official cautioned that his team could be on scene of the burn for weeks, even months. On I-4, a nightmare unfolded. One severely injured man, trapped in a car that had been mowed down by a truck, was given a cell phone to call his wife. Crews worked quickly to free him. Eduardo Donoso, 55, was a passenger in a vehicle on the way to a construction site in St. Cloud. "There was so much fog, the traffic started slowing but all of sudden it got very very foggy. There was this big boom," Donoso said. "We managed to somehow stop and then I heard another boom and another one and another one. I looked back, there was this trailer that was practically bent halfways. And that was what kept us from being hit from behind," he added. Donoso said when he and his friend got out of their car, there were people screaming for help. He said he couldn't see much, only about three feet in front of him. "It was quite dramatic," he said. "People were yelling, 'help my wife' and 'get me out of here.' " Motorists who weren't injured were taken to a sheriff's district station and given food and drinks while they were being interviewed. And a chaplain and victims advocates were there to help them and the family members who were injured or killed. Several agencies responded to the crash to assist Polk County and FHP crews. Orange County Fire Rescue alone sent a specialized hazardous-material unit, five rescue units, an EMS captain, battalion chief and assistant chief. FHP Patrol Major Tom Knight said visibility was not restored in the area until about 10 a.m., allowing crews to continue searching for victims and investigating the potential causes. The last of the victims was removed from a vehicle at 11:15 a.m.
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Added: Feb 17, 2008 |
| Category: News |
Author: Blackhawk067 |
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