Fiery truck crash closes I-70 BY GREG JONSSON AND TODD C. FRANKEL Post-Dispatch 11/24/2003
St. Louis firefighters battle a tractor-trailer that exploded into flames Monday night after apparently hitting a parked vehicle at eastbound Interstate 70 and Bircher Avenue. (Andrew Cutraro/P-D)
A fiery tractor-trailer crash closed Interstate 70 at Union Boulevard in St. Louis for several hours Monday night, with authorities expecting to reopen the eastbound lanes in time for today's morning rush hour.
The truck struck an abandoned vehicle parked on the eastbound interstate shoulder just before the Union Boulevard overpass at about 7:30 p.m., St. Louis Fire spokeswoman Kim Bacon said. The truck then lost control and struck a bridge pillar, leading to several powerful explosions.
The truck appeared to be hauling paper and office products, Bacon said. Flames and fire quickly consumed the vehicle.
"You can't even tell it's a tractor trailer," said a firefighter watching the smoldering wreckage.
A person believed to be the truck driver was found dead at the scene.
Fire officials did not identify the truck driver or the truck's owner. The cab was reduced to rubble, the trailer a burnt frame, and paper and boxes were strewn across the road.
"It's going to be very hard to identify it because there's not much left of it," Bacon said.
The abandoned car struck by the tractor trailer was seen parked on the highway shoulder at 5 a.m. Monday, said Don Houston, who drives I-70 daily. "A few people were swerving to avoid hitting it this morning."
The truck explosions, which occurred near the entrance to the eastbound express lanes, were heard from blocks away.
"I heard boom, boom, boom," said Tito Meadows, 57, who was at home watching TV Monday night. "I thought it was a gas line at first."
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The truck explosions, which occurred near the entrance to the eastbound express lanes, were heard from blocks away.
"I heard boom, boom, boom," said Tito M
Something doesn't compute. Diesel fuel burns, but it generally doesn't go "boom, boom, boom". Seems like the truck may have been carrying something other than "paper and office products", cause they don't go "boom" either.