5 Killed as Fog Causes 19 Pileups Near Fresno

Heavy tule fog near Fresno caused 19 pileups on California 99 Tuesday morning, including one in which five people were killed when two vehicles exploded in flames.

The accidents left dozens of injured lying on the roadway median strip in a scene that resembled a battle zone, according to the California Highway Patrol.

“It was a nightmare,” said CHP Officer Laurie Johnson, who said that more than 40 vehicles were involved in separate accidents along a two-mile stretch of highway through the town of Selma, about 15 miles south of Fresno.

In the worst of the chain-reaction collisions, a man, a woman and two children were killed when their vehicle slammed into a Foster Farms tractor-trailer rig and burst into flames, according to Johnson.

The car was in turn hit by a pickup truck, which also caught fire, killing the driver, Johnson said.

The Fresno County coroner’s office identified those killed in the car as Javier Villarreal, 23, of Cantua Creek, Ana Lilia Guzman, 21, of Fresno and her two children, Perla Guzman, 2, and Ivan Villarreal, 8 months. Javier Villarreal was the father of Ivan.

The driver of the pickup was identified as Mike Hosford, 28, of Clovis.

Johnson said a man involved in another accident near the fatal wreck had to be restrained to keep him from rushing into the flames in an attempt to rescue Hosford, who was trapped and screaming in the burning pickup.

Johnson said a total of 30 people were hurt in the pileups. The injured were placed on the highway’s median strip, where rescue workers ran from victim to victim, pinning them with identification tags and treating those most in need first.

Some of the vehicles involved in collisions were traveling at up to 65 m.p.h. despite a fog that limited visibility to 50 feet and despite Highway Patrol warnings to drive slowly, Johnson said.

Sean Doyle, 20, of Dinuba said civilians were not the only ones to exceed a safe speed in the fog.

Doyle was forced to stop on the highway north of Selma because of a wreck, he said, and when he looked in the rear-view mirror he saw a Selma police car skidding into him.

After he was hit by the police car, Doyle said, he got out of his vehicle and tried to push it off the highway. Another car knocked it onto the median strip.