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3 dead in fiery truck pileup on a Los Angeles area freeway

DAILY NEWS STAFF

Sunday, October 14th 2007, 12:25 AM

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A fire blazes after a collison set off a 15-truck pile-up in a freeway tunnel
northwest of Los Angeles. Two people died in the crash.

A firefighter works to douse the flames in one the trucks involved in the
pile-up.

Video: Fiery
truck pile-up in L.A. freeway tunnel

Three people died and at least 10 were injured in a fiery 15-truck pileup in
a Los Angeles-area freeway tunnel, according to sources from the California
Highway Patrol.

The domino-effect pileup started when two trucks collided on wet, slippery
roads around 11 p.m. Friday night. Flames were still shooting from the tunnel
Saturday morning creating an impasse on I-5, roughly 30 miles northwest of
downtown L.A.

Wreckage from the crash filled the southbound truck tunnel, which stretches
for more than a half mile. Flames shot up over 100 feet during the height of the
blaze. "It looked like a bomb went off," said Scott Clark, an L.A. country
firefighter who was among 300 battling the fire throughout the night.

Twenty people were able to get out of the tunnel after the crash. Another 10
were taken to the hospital with injuries. It was unclear whether a truck driver
whose remains were found Saturday afternoon was a man identified as missing
following the accident.

Although the tunnel is intended specifically for trucks, it is open to car
traffic, and authorities are concerned there may be smaller vehicles in the
wreckage.

The accident blocked major traffic arteries near Santa Clarita that feed into
the highway through which the tunnel runs, leaving many drivers unable to move
on the roads for more than seven hours.

By mid-morning Saturday, most of the flames had been extinguished with a
high-expansion foam that firefighters injected into the tunnel to smother the
blaze, and firefighters began hauling debris out of the tunnel.

Officials hope to reopen the southbound lanes of Interstate 5 by Tuesday
morning, but they have been hampered by small lingering fires and concern about
whether the tunnel is safe to drive through.

It's "extremely difficult for the crews," said Inspector Jason Hurd of the
Los Angeles County Fire Department.  "There's only been, obviously, two
means of [entry] and exit attacking this fire, and the intense heat; again, not
knowing the number of vehicles, the type of vehicles inside, their cargo have
all been cause for concern for us."

The freeway, part of the major route that runs north-south from San Francisco
to Los Angeles, is expected to be closed for at least another day while the
wreckage is cleared. Traffic across the state may be snarled much longer if the
fire caused major structural damage.

With News Wire Services

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