Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Fatal wreck, fires cripple I-95 traffic

Stretches of road in Brevard and Volusia counties are affected by poor visibility resulting from brush fires.

By TIMES WIRES
Published May 7, 2006

Separate brush fires on Florida's east coast Sunday caused a wreck that killed two truckers on Interstate 95, forced evacuations of about 800 people and claimed at least one home.

Parts of I-95 will be closed today and until smoke and fog are no longer a driving hazard, the Florida Highway Patrol said.

The fiery, five-vehicle pileup near Port St. John in Brevard County stifled I-95 traffic Sunday morning.

Officials said four semitrailer trucks collided in southbound lanes and a Ford Escort driven by a Titusville woman ran into the back of one of the trucks.

The collisions sent fireballs 40 feet into the air, authorities said.

Two truckers died in the wreck and two other people were seriously injured, including the driver of a mail truck who suffered serious burns.

The identities of the people involved were not available Sunday.

The wreck came as officials decided to close 20 miles of I-95 in Brevard County daily from 5 to 9 a.m. until visibility problems end, said Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman Kim Miller. Intermittent closures of the highway could happen any time.

"The hint to motorists is don't use I-95 in the next couple of days if you don't have to. We want motorists to avoid 95 from Indian River County up to Jacksonville," Florida Highway Patrol spokeswoman Kim Miller said.

The FHP also shut down a 7-mile stretch of I-95 in Volusia County because of smoke from fires that began Friday, burning more than 1,000 acres.

About 800 people in New Smyrna Beach were ordered to evacuate their homes Sunday as a wildfire scorched more than 200 acres and leapt across I-95, authorities said.

About 60 firefighters were trying to contain the blaze that destroyed at least one home, Volusia County officials said. No injuries were reported.

[Last modified May 7, 2006, 22:28:02]