SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Feb. 22, 2019 (Gephardt Daily) — A tanker crash and fire closed traffic on I-15 southbound near 1300 early Friday morning.
Captain Adam Archuleta, public information officer for the Salt Lake City Fire Department told Gephardt Daily, the rollover happened about 1:40 a.m. when the tanker and a single car collided, sending flames and thick black smoke billowing into the air.
One driver was critically injured in the crash. A second driver was reported in fair condition. Archuleta said it was initially unclear who was driving which vehicle.
Firefighters were able to dowse the fire about 2:30 a.m. with the assistance of foam trucks provided by fire crews at Salt Lake City International and the Utah National Guard. The blaze was officially under control by 2:51 a.m.
Northbound lanes of I-15 remained open, but traffic slowed to a crawl and was backed up for miles. There was at least one crash reported when ‘rubberneckers’ collided while driving northbound.
Archuleta said it was unclear how long I-15 southbound would be closed as fire crews had to make sure there was no chance of the fire starting up again.
According to Archuleta, the twin-tanker truck was carrying 7,000 gallons of gasoline and 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel at the time of the crash.
Gephardt Daily has a crew on scene and will update the story as more information is made available.
