SAN ANTONIO - A tanker truck hauling gasoline crashed into the back of a Waste Management dump truck Thursday, sparking multiple explosions that killed the tanker driver and prompted the evacuation of dozens of homes and businesses.
The tanker truck driver could not be identified in the charred wreckage after Pasco County firefighters extinguished the blaze about 3:30 p.m.
The crash occurred shortly after 2 p.m. on Curley Road less than a mile south of State Road 52. Authorities ordered the evacuation of dozens of homes and businesses within a half-mile radius of the wreck, including two gas stations at State Road 52 and Curley Road, until just before 4 p.m.
A ball of flames and thick black smoke unfurled into the air long after witnesses reported hearing three to four explosions. Pasco County Fire Rescue Chief Anthony Lopinto said some brush burned in the blaze, but the flames did not damage homes or businesses.
The driver of the Waste Management truck, James Giddions, 35, of Spring Hill, told officials that he was driving north on Curley Road when he slowed to let a car in front of him turn left on Elm Street, Florida Highway Patrol Capt. Gregory LaMont said.
As he started accelerating again, the tanker truck struck him from behind, LaMont said.
"All he remembers is getting rear-ended," LaMont said. The driver of the tanker truck apparently turned onto the shoulder to try to avoid the crash, he added.
Giddions declined to comment, saying he was still "shaken up."
The tanker driver never slowed down before hitting the dump truck along the road, which has a 40 mph speed limit, said Art Miller, 45, of Darby, who watched the tanker explode. He was driving south on Curley Road to pick up his daughter at the Academy at the Farm charter school when the tanker struck the dump truck and blew up.
"I was going to help (the tanker driver), but it was so instantaneous," Miller said. Upon impact, flames shot up from under the cab, blowing it apart, before spreading to the tanker, he said. Several more explosions followed.
Both he and Giddions moved their vehicles and ran to safety, he said.
Harry Fowler, a Waste Management manager, arrived at the scene to help.
"What happened, you okay?" he said walking up to Giddions as red flames shot out of the tanker. "I heard we were rear-ended. ... What was it, a tanker? God bless."
Later, Fowler said that Giddions had unloaded some construction debris and was heading back to a client's site when the accident happened.
Traffic, including several school buses, was rerouted for hours to Prospect Road. Officials expected to open Curley Road later Thursday evening.
LaMont said no tickets would be issued. Giddions, whose driving record includes a few traffic tickets in the 1990s, does not appear to have been at fault, according to witnesses and officials.
