Fatal pileup closes I-4 in Polk County (FL)

My Fox Tampa Bay ^ | Wednesday, 09 Jan 2008 | FOX13

[DocRock]

POLK CITY - Smoke and fog are causing a surreal scene in Polk County that's forced the closure of a stretch of Interstate 4, and contributed to a massive pile-up.

All lanes of I-4 are closed between the Polk Parkway and U.S. 27. That's roughly from Polk City to the Osceola County line.

The lingering smoke combined with the morning fog has brought visibility down to near zero, and deputies say at least 50 vehicles are involved in the massive wreck, and 20 of those are semi-trucks. Several vehicles caught fire, though most of the blazes seemed to be out by 8:30 a.m., judging by the diminishing amount of black smoke rising from the scene.

At least three people are dead, and several more motorists are trapped and waiting for emergency crews.

Those who are unhurt are being asked to stay in their cars for their own safely and the safety of rescue workers.

"Please, remain in your vehicle, remain patient, and follow the detours ahead. We do have emergency vehicles and responding personnel, some of which are walking and do not want to be struck by vehicles that are trying to make up some time and get down the road on the shoulders," Trooper Larry Coggins said. "It's a very dangerous situation right now. Please, everyone drive safely and have some patience."

Schools in the area are open, but those along Polk's I-4 corridor can expect significant delays.

Yesterday's brush fire began as a controlled burn, but it jumped a firebreak and eventually grew to 250 acres before being contained.

[DocRock]

Didn't see this posted.

[DocRock]

Link to photos

[DocRock]

ping

[Sax]

So it was a controlled burn until it wasn’t, huh?

[Joe Brower]

Travel advisory ping! Any FReepers in this area -- steer clear.

[Sam's Army]

"So it was a controlled burn until it wasn’t, huh?"

Here come the lawyers.

[DocRock]

Live Streaming Feed

[George from New England]

There’s been no rain in so long. Everything very dry.

What idiots would start a fire? Oh yeah, never mind.

[DocRock]

I heard early this AM that the Dept. of Forestry lost a bulldozer trying to fight the “out of control” controlled burn.

[stainlessbanner]

bttt

[VeniVidiVici]

Wow! I heard about it but didn’t realize visibility was THAT bad!

[DocRock]

The early reports said that rescuers had to walk in and still couldn’t see over a couple of feet to locate victims.

[Sunnyflorida]

Thanks for the update, but I wonder how many times a year i-4 in Polk County is closed in one direction or the other?

[NonValueAdded]

Yow! Prayers for those involved.

[DocRock]

"I wonder how many times a year i-4 in Polk County is closed in one direction or the other?"

There are plenty of nasty wrecks on that stretch of I-4, but they are saying that the fires damaged the interstate and there will have to be repairs before it can be reopened.

Update:

About 30 minutes ago, my cell phone rang and it was a recorded message from the Polk County School Board stating that no buses, children or employees were involved in the crash, even though several Polk County School buses were shown on television coverage. The recording stated that Polk County emergency services were using the school buses to transport victims and rescue workers. (I immediately thought of Ray Nagan in N.O.) Then about 2 minutes later, my business phones rang in with the same message.

[SE Mom]

I am watching local news 13- The crash site is UNREAL. I-4 is closed indefinitely- the road may have been damaged from the fire.

- 10 separate crash sites
- 70 vehicles in crash
- 3 killed, 38 injuries- 5 of them critical

What a MESS.

[SE Mom]

So..what are you hearing? It sounds as though the fog was brutal, weather conditions changed unexpectedly in the middle of the burn. Just heard FHP say they’d had an officer around the area on I-4 around 5am - no warning from him saying the road wasn’t navigable.

Nasty accident.

[MindBender26]

I’ve been working national stuff all day, but your description sounds accurate.

Smoke and fog are a bad combination.

Years ago in Pinellas County, some from a tree clearing fire on an island off Tarpon Springs stayed together and drifted ashore in Largo about 2 AM. Visibility was down to 6 feet for a few hours.

[NautiNurse]

The early reports said that rescuers had to walk in and still couldn’t see over a couple of feet to locate victims.

Some of the first responders walked 14 miles!. They were crawling to find victims by listening to their voices.

There was dense fog as well as smoke.

[Road Warrior ‘04]

This is the same area of I-4 that was closed by the fires of, I believe, 2002 or 03. This time, a controlled burn got out of control. Thank heavens I didn’t have to go to anywhere today that required the use of I-4. Smoke, apparently from the fires, limited visibility as far south as Lake Wales this morning.