Smoke From Fla. Wildfires Causes Wrecks
Smoke from wildfires in central Florida caused a series of accidents on Interstate 95, killing a passenger in one car and forcing the closure of 14 miles of the highway Friday.
At least 14 vehicles, many of them tractor-trailers, were involved in five separate accidents, including the fatal crash in which a car rammed a truck from behind. The highway was shut down for six hours.
Firefighters were getting the upper hand on several large fires around the state Friday, but drought conditions helped lead to smaller fires in all 15 districts of the state Division of Forestry. Most were quickly controlled.
Gov. Jeb Bush has called out National Guard troops to help firefighting crews. Firefighters from Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina have also been brought in.
A Florida National Guardsman, Matthew Moore, 20, was paralyzed from the chest down when a tree fell on him while he assisted firefighting efforts in Groveland, about 50 miles west of the I-95 accidents.
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