Watch: Gasoline truck catches fire on US Interstate highway section; forces road closures for months

PHILADELPHIA: An elevated section of Interstate 95 in Philadelphia collapsed early Sunday after a tanker truck carrying flammable cargo caught fire, indefinitely closing a heavily traveled section of the East Coast’s main north-south highway . Transport officials warned of widespread delays and road closures and urged drivers to avoid the area in the city’s northeast corner. Authorities said the tanker contained a petroleum product that could have been hundreds of gallons of gasoline. It took about an hour to get the fire under control.

Philadelphia Fire Department battalion chief Derek Bomar said that I-95’s northbound lanes were gone and the southbound lanes were “compromised” by the heat from the fire. He said water from the fire or possibly ruptured gas lines may have caused the underground explosion. There was an accident at 6:15 a.m. on an on-ramp under northbound I-95, and the northbound ramp quickly collapsed on top of the fire, said Brad Rudolph, a spokesman for the state transportation department.

I-95 in Philadelphia collapses after a truck reportedly carrying thousands of gallons of gasoline catches fire and explodes

I-95 is a major highway to and from Philadelphia.

Is there more to this story that they are telling us? pic.twitter.com/N3TXqvlTQQ— Vision4theBlind (@Vision4theBlind) June 11, 2023

“The southbound lanes were badly damaged and we are still assessing that,” Rudolph said. Governor Josh Shapiro, who said Sunday evening that he planned to issue a disaster declaration on Monday to speed up federal funding, said at least one vehicle was still trapped under the collapsed road. “We are still working to identify any person or persons who may have been vulnerable to the fire and collapse,” he said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries. Video from the scene showed a massive concrete slab had fallen from I-95 onto the roadway below. Shapiro said that his flight over the area showed “simply remarkable devastation”. “I found myself thanking God that no motorists were injured or killed on I-95,” he said. Mark Fuseti, a retired Philadelphia police sergeant, said he was driving south toward the city’s airport when he noticed thick, black smoke rising over the highway.

JUST IN: Section of I-95 in Philadelphia collapses after a fire broke out under a tanker truck pic.twitter.com/k07yM3Gv8H– BNO News (@BNONews) June 11, 2023

As he passed the fire, the road below began to “dip”, creating a noticeable depression that was visible in video from the scene, he said. He saw in his rearview mirror that the traffic had stopped. Shortly thereafter, the northbound lanes of the highway were washed away. “It was crazy timing,” Fusetti said. “For it to buckle and collapse so quickly, it’s pretty remarkable.”

Rudolph said the collapsed section of I-95 was part of a $212 million reconstruction project that was completed four years ago. He said there was no immediate deadline for reopening the highway, but officials would consider “a fill-in situation or a temporary structure” to accelerate the effort. Motorists were sent on a 69-kilometer detour, which ran “better than a weekday,” Rudolph said. The fact that the accident happened on a Sunday helped ease congestion, but he expected traffic to “significantly back up in all congested areas”.

A major road portion collapsed following a massive explosion. Highway I-95 – which is one of the most important and used roads in the east of the country in the US city of Philadelphia pic.twitter.com/B78WKaHiSK

– Yasser Alkhader (@AlkhaderYasser) June 12, 2023

Pennsylvania Transportation Secretary Michael Carroll said the I-95 segment carried about 160,000 vehicles per day and was probably the busiest Interstate in Pennsylvania. He said that work would continue throughout the night to clear the collapsed portion at the earliest. Shapiro said he spoke directly with US Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg and was assured that there would be “absolutely no delay” in receiving federal funding to rebuild the “vital road” as safely and efficiently as possible.

But Shapiro said a full reconstruction of I-95 would take “a few months”, and in the meantime officials were looking at an “interim solution to connect the two sides of I-95 to get traffic through the area”. White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a Twitter post that President Joe Biden was briefed about the collapse and White House officials contacted the offices of Shapiro and Philadelphia Mayor Jim Kenney to offer assistance. were in

Buttigieg, in a social media post, called it “a major artery for people and goods” and said the closure would have a “significant impact on the city and region until reconstruction and recovery is complete”. Said it was sending a team to investigate the fire and collapse. Most drivers traveling the I-95 corridor between Delaware and New York City use the New Jersey Turnpike rather than the section of the Interstate where the collapse occurred.

As of 2018, drivers did not have a direct highway connection between I-95 in Pennsylvania and I-95 in New Jersey. To get from one to the other they had to use a few miles of surface roads with traffic lights. Officials were also concerned about the environmental effects of runoff into the nearby Delaware River. After glitter was seen in the Delaware River near the fall site, the Coast Guard deployed a boom to contain the material. Ensign Josh Ledoux said the tanker had a capacity of 8,500 gallons, but the contents did not appear to be dispersing into the environment.

“As far as waterways are concerned, it is contained, and it looks like things are under control,” he said. Dominic Meirelles, director of Philadelphia’s Office of Emergency Management, said thousands of tons of steel and concrete were piled above the site of the blaze and heavy construction equipment would be needed to remove the debris. The fire was similar to another blaze in Philadelphia in March 1996, when an illegal tire dump caught fire under I-95, melting guard rails and shattering pavement.

The highway remained closed for several weeks, and was partially closed for six months. Seven teenagers were charged with starting the fire. The owner of the dump was sentenced to seven to 14 years in prison and ordered to pay US$3 million out of US$6 million.