Tank Truck Crash on I-5 Jams Traffic for 18 Miles

A tractor-trailer rig carrying more than 4,000 gallons of gasoline overturned and exploded Saturday morning on Interstate 5 near here, killing the driver and causing a catastrophic daylong traffic jam.

William Christopher Lindwedel, a driver for the Wright Oil Co. of Santee, died in the flaming wreckage. No one else was injured in the accident or the brush fire it ignited.

Firefighters arriving minutes after the 4:27 a.m. crash encountered an impassable wall of flames. The California Highway Patrol, initially fearing that the accident involved toxic materials, closed all lanes of the freeway.

At its worst, southbound traffic was at a dead stop for about 18 miles, all the way to San Juan Capistrano in Orange County, said CHP Sgt. Chon Gomez. Frustrated motorists, some unable to move their cars for up to six hours, got out of their cars and milled around the sides of the freeway, some angry and others taking the delay in stride.

Trickle of Traffic

Traffic heading north, which had backed up about six miles to Oceanside Boulevard, was cleared for passage about 9 a.m. Two southbound lanes were opened about 11:30 a.m., allowing traffic to trickle past the blackened wreckage. Efforts to reroute traffic through Camp Pendleton did little to alleviate the tremendous tie-up.

Southbound drivers cut through the thick wire cables in the freeway center divider at three different locations in order to make a U-turn onto the northbound lanes.

Lindwedel was heading south when he apparently lost control of his truck about three miles south of the Las Pulgas exit. The truck, hauling two tanks full of gasoline, overturned near the center divider and immediately burst into flames, said Camp Pendleton Fire Department Captain Dennis Cross.

When the first fire trucks arrived only four minutes later, firefighters saw “a 50-yard radius of solid fire,” Cross said. The tanker itself was blocking two lanes, but heat from the fire was so intense that dry brush on the west side of the freeway spontaneously burst into flame.

“We couldn’t see any of the markings on the truck or anything,” Cross said.

Fearing that the tankers contained a water-reactant chemical, firefighters did not immediately use water, Cross said. After determining that the burning substance was gasoline, firefighters extinguished the flames at 5:30 a.m.

Although the cause of the crash was not determined, CHP officials speculated that Lindwedel might have fallen asleep at the wheel. Tire tracks indicated that the rig ran off the road and was headed toward the northbound lanes, but veered away sharply just before colliding with the fence in the center divider. “Apparently he caught himself before he hit the cable, tried to steer back onto the road and lost it,” Gomez said.

Lindwedel, 45, lived in Ramona and is survived by his wife, Roberta, according to a spokesman for the coroner’s office.