Forest Fire Smoke Causes Fla. Pileup; 3 Dead

Twenty-four cars and trucks slammed into each other Wednesday in a pileup along a highway shrouded by blinding smoke from a forest fire. Three people were killed and 21 injured, authorities said.

“I don’t understand how I lived through that,” said Erik Gebauer, whose Mustang slid under a tractor-trailer. “I felt death right behind me. I can’t believe I made it.”

Because of the twisted wreckage, it took several hours for authorities to determine how many vehicles were involved in the accident on Interstate 10 about 90 miles east of Tallahassee in northern Florida. At least five tractor-trailers could be seen jackknifed in the wreckage.

The dead were the driver of a pickup truck that caught fire; the driver of a tractor-trailer; and a motorist who stopped to help and was crushed when a load of plywood fell off a truck.

Nine people remained hospitalized Wednesday night.

Hours after the pileup, as salvage crews began pulling apart the twisted wreckage, the full extent of the carnage could be seen. Three vehicles were burned. Five tractor-trailers had jackknifed. Cars had slid underneath trucks. A sport utility vehicle rested on its side.

The lone police car for the town of Jennings was crushed beneath a tractor-trailer so tightly that when the truck was lifted upright, the car also came off the ground. The officer was hospitalized in serious condition with a head injury.

“The low visibility was a result of the forest fire,” Highway Patrol Lt. Ken Knowles said.

The smoke came from a 7,000-acre arson fire in Osceola National Park, about 10 miles away. Visibility was further reduced when three of the vehicles caught fire, and that caused more vehicles to plow into the wreckage, officials said.

“It was really smoky--you couldn’t see but a few feet in front of you,” said trucker Richard Smith, who was able to stop safely.

“You could hear popping and snapping,” he said. “I couldn’t believe it. First time I have ever seen anything this big.”

Seventeen miles of highway were closed after the 8 a.m. chain-reaction accident.