Crash Ignites Wall of Fire on O.C. Freeway

A tractor-trailer rig hauling butane canisters and car batteries collided with a milk truck early Saturday, igniting a spectacular fire that showered molten metal high into the air and closed portions of the San Diego Freeway for more than six hours.

Although both drivers survived and no one else was injured, California Highway Patrol officers said the leaking diesel fuel and butane combined to ignite a wall of fire about 5 feet high that stretched across the southbound lanes of the freeway just south of the Fairview Road exit, shortly after the 4:50 a.m. crash.

Minutes after the crash, officers said, they were attempting to stop motorists from driving through the area when one vehicle passed them and drove through the fire wall. The motorist made it, apparently unhurt, and kept going as flames poured from the vehicle’s wheel wells, said officers.

Southbound freeway traffic was backed up from Harbor to Beach boulevards. Local streets in Costa Mesa were flooded with travelers seeking a way around the accident site. The jam caught some travelers on their way to nearby John Wayne Airport. At least 10 passengers missed their planes and had to be rebooked on later flights.

The collision’s impact was felt all the way to the Los Angeles County line as southbound freeway traffic was diverted to other arteries throughout Orange County in a nightmarish period of traffic congestion.

“We had metal flying off on the other side of the freeway,” CHP Sgt. B.J. (Jerry) Ellison said, standing near the charred hulks left on the road surface. “This thing was big time. This was as big of a hazardous materials situation as I have ever seen at one time.”

The driver of the rig, David L. Fulton, 43, of Oceanside and Bhikhabhai Patel, 22, of Buena Park, who was driving the milk truck, were taken to College Hospital Costa Mesa where they were treated for minor injuries. They were released before noon Saturday.

The incident began when Patel noticed smoke rising from his truck and slowed to pull to the shoulder, said CHP Public Affairs Officer Linda Burrus. Then the truck caught fire, and Patel bailed out, leaving the truck in a traffic lane, she said.

The driver of the double-trailer rig, carrying 33 pounds of butane canisters and 1,600 pounds of dry car batteries for TNT Bestway Transportation of Los Angeles, apparently was unable to stop and rammed the milk truck. Officers said the crash carried both trucks into the concrete freeway divider, where fire engulfed the vehicles.

Fulton went partly through the windshield in the collision. He was able to crawl to safety before the truck was fully engulfed in flames.

In a telephone interview Saturday evening from his home, Fulton said he remained conscious after the impact and felt his truck sliding out of control across the freeway in the early morning darkness.

“My first thoughts were, ‘I’m dead! I’m dead!’ ” Fulton said from his Oceanside home. “When the truck stopped, I looked down and saw the pavement. I just decided to walk right through where the windshield used to be.”

Walking to safety, he saw burning debris scattered over the roadway.

“I couldn’t believe how incredibly lucky I was,” he said. “It’s pretty amazing. I feel very lucky to be alive.”

Fulton, who has three children, said it took six stitches to close a cut on his left arm. He also suffered a scratched forehead and bloodied scalp. “Other than that, I just feel really sore.”

He praised the quick response of medical emergency crews and Highway Patrol officers.

Hours after the accident, officers were still amazed at what they saw when they arrived at the crash site.

“Milk was spilled on the roadway and the (butane) cans were going off like fireworks,” CHP Officer Burrus said. “There was a mass of smoke. It was scary, because no one knew what the smoke was.”

Ellison said officers began shutting down portions of the freeway about 5:15 a.m., starting with the north and southbound freeway entrances at Fairview Road, before closing about a 2-mile stretch between Bristol Street and Harbor Boulevard in each direction.

Officers said the California Department of Transportation later closed both the northbound and southbound access from the Costa Mesa Freeway to the San Diego Freeway.

North of the accident site, CHP officers said southbound freeway traffic was being diverted onto the Garden Grove Freeway.

Ellison said firefighters from the Costa Mesa Fire Department battled the flames for about 30 minutes before the fire was extinguished. Hazardous materials teams from Huntington Beach and Newport Beach also responded to study the contents of the trailers.

Ellison said an inventory of the rig’s cargo fully described the contents, but the butane hampered firefighters in their efforts to control the blaze.

Bob Baker, TNT’s safety supervisor, said the truck was bound for the company’s terminal in San Diego when the accident occurred. Baker described the contents as “general freight” that were to be dropped off in San Diego and delivered to businesses there.

By mid-morning, a small crowd of people had gathered on the Fairview overpass to watch giant tow trucks right the burned-out wreckage. The remains were loaded on flatbed trucks and hauled away. Ellison said the force of the crash and fire broke Fulton’s rig into three pieces.

Burrus said the freeway’s northbound lanes were opened first, about 9:30 a.m. Traffic was moving in both directions by 11:30 a.m.

Only minutes after traffic was allowed back on the northbound lanes, Ellison said officers were called to another traffic accident, involving a drunk driver, immediately across the center divider from the truck pileup.

“We were just getting inundated,” Ellison said. “We could not win today. We have to laugh because if you don’t, you cry.”

Freeway openings could not have come too soon for those who were commuting to work Saturday and others who were stalled a frustrating few miles from John Wayne Airport and departing flights.

Airline ticket agents said travelers were arriving late for their flights all morning because of the traffic delays created by the crash.

A Delta Air Lines agent, who did not want to be identified, said about 10 passengers missed their planes and were placed on later flights.

“Some people were running here completely out of breath,” the woman said. “They were pretty nice considering the problem.”

Pam McPhall of Continental Airlines said traffic delays left other passengers stressed-out and airline employees late for work.