1985 — Oct 6, Brush Fire Smoke, 33-Vehicle Pileup, I-5 near Sacramento, CA — 10

–10  Altoona Mirror, PA.  “Freeway pileup kills 10, injures 43.” 10-7-1985, p. 3.

–10  Daily Sitka Sentinel, AK. “10 Killed in Calif.” Smoke Causes Pileup.” 10-7-1985, p. 5.

–10  Los Angeles Times.  “Ten Killed in Freeway Pileup in Sacramento.” 10-7-1985.

–10  The Capital, Annapolis, MD. “Smoke triggers fatal crash.” 10-7-1985, p. 12.

—  8  Daily News Record, Harrisonburg, VA. “Trucker Saves Lives at Wreck Site.” 10-8-1985, 3.

 

Narrative Information

 

Oct 7, AP/Annapolis Capital: “Sacramento, Calif. (AP) — Smoke from a brush fire hung ‘like a curtain’ over California’s major north-south freeway, setting off a 33-vehicle chain-reaction smashup that killed 10 people and injured more than 40, the highway patrol said.  ‘We hit the car in front of us and then all hell broke loose,’ one of the victims, Kenneth Shockley, said after the pileup yesterday. Shockley, 2 passengers in a van that ended up in the middle of the pack of mangled cars and trucks, said his vehicle was hit six or seven times and bounced around ‘like a ping pong ball. We were scared to death.’ The smoke socked in the freeway’s northbound lanes ‘like a curtain being drawn,’ said Shockley, who received a cut on his head, a black eye and a bruised shoulder.

 

“The pileup involved 33 vehicles — including two large tractor-trailer rigs — shortly before 4 p.m on northbound Interstate 5 north of downtown Sacramento, said California Highway Patrol spokesman Dick Fridley. The highway, closed until early today, was still littered with damaged vehicles several hours after the crash. One small sedan was smashed beyond recognition, and crumpled automobiles were strewn across all the northbound lanes and onto the shoulder. One of the two large truck cabs was on its side and two cars were blackened by fires.

 

“”One minute the freeway was clear. Then suddenly the wind shifted” and the crash occurred, a local television station quoted one motorist as saying.  “Smoke was blowing across the freeway,” CHP spokesman George Olinares said. “It was very dense at the time”.” (The Capital, Annapolis, MD.  “Smoke triggers fatal crash.” 10-7-1985, p. 12.)

 

Oct 7, AP/Sitka Sentinel: “Sacramento (AP)…. Eight people died at the scene and two of the 43 taken to hospitals died of their injuries, Olinares [George, California Highway Patrol spokesman] said.”  (Daily Sitka Sentinel, AK. “10 Killed in Calif.” Smoke Causes Pileup.” 10-7-1985, p. 5.)

 

Oct 7, LA Times: “Sacramento — Thick smoke from a brush fire cut visibility on a heavily traveled freeway here Sunday, triggering a chain-reaction smashup that killed at least ten people and injured 41 others. California Highway Patrol spokesman…said that at least 33 vehicles–including two heavy tractor-trailer rigs–were involved in the massive tangle that began at 3:52 p.m. in the northbound lanes of Interstate 5 just north of the downtown area. ‘Smoke from a brush fire on the shoulder was blowing across all four lanes of I-5. It was very dense at the time,’ Olinares said. ‘One witness, a truck driver, told us the wind shifted suddenly, cutting visibility in the northbound lanes to zero.’

 

“‘We think one car may have slowed down suddenly after it moved into the smoke, another car smashed into it from behind and then the others just piled in–one by one,’ said CHP Officer Dick Fridley. The situation was further complicated, Fridley said, when the fire on the freeway shoulder was blown into the tangle of automobiles and trucks, setting at least four of them ablaze and causing their fuel tanks to ignite.  “I looked up, and our car was on fire,” one survivor, DeAnna Dilling, said. “I ran and got away. But the car in front of us had people in it–and I don’t think any of them could have escaped. . . .”

 

“Fridley confirmed that at least one of the dead was a passenger who became trapped in a burning vehicle. Other fatalities, he said, included the driver of one of the tractor-trailer rigs and four people who were in one of the first cars involved in the serial collisions.

 

“Olinares said that at least one more person may have died in the huge tangle, but it was difficult to count the dead and injured because of the compressed and burned condition of some of the vehicles. ‘It might be a while before we know exactly how many people died,’ Olinares said. ‘In a few cases, it will be necessary to let the wreckage cool enough to get inside.’

 

“Firefighting and rescue equipment from a 100-mile radius was rushed to the site of the smashup, and the injured were taken by helicopters and ambulances to nine hospitals in the vicinity, where two died and at least 10 were later reported in serious–but not life-threatening–condition.

 

“Traffic in both directions on the freeway, which is the state’s principal north-south artery, remained stalled for more than five hours while wreckage was being cleared.

 

“Sacramento firefighters who had been working to extinguish the brush fire that touched off the tragedy said the accident ‘just kept happening’ for several minutes.” (Los Angeles Times. “Ten Killed in Freeway Pileup in Sacramento.” 10-7-1985.)

 

Sources

 

Altoona Mirror, PA. “Freeway pileup kills 10, injures 43.” 10-7-1985, p. 3. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=72975400

 

Daily News-Record, Harrisonburg, VA. “Trucker Saves Lives at Wreck Site.” 10-8-1985, 3.  Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=150523728

 

Daily Sitka Sentinel, AK. “10 Killed in Calif.” Smoke Causes Pileup.” 10-7-1985, p. 5. Accessed at: http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=86281712

 

Los Angeles Times. “Ten Killed in Freeway Pileup in Sacramento.” 10-7-1985. Accessed at:  http://articles.latimes.com/1985-10-07/news/mn-16512_1_sacramento-firefighters

 

The Capital, Annapolis, MD. “Smoke triggers fatal crash.” 10-7-1985, p. 12. Accessed at:  http://www.newspaperarchive.com/FullPagePdfViewer.aspx?img=10989832