GROTON, Conn. — A massive fire sparked by a fuel delivery truck rollover caused parts of Interstate 95 and the Gold Star Memorial Bridge in Groton to close for several hours on Friday.
The wreck happened shortly after 11 a.m. on the southbound side of the Gold Star Memorial Bridge carrying the highway over the Thames River between New London and Groton. The crash caused major traffic backups and threatened long-term disruptions on the busy stretch of I-95, the main north-south artery on the East Coast.
The fire has since been put out. The southbound side of I-95 was closed for quite some time but two lanes have been reopened to traffic. Connecticut State Police still ask that try to seek alternate routes as it's not fully open.
The driver of the truck has died, New London Mayor Michael Passero confirmed to FOX61. He has been identified as Wallace Joseph Faquet III of Stonington. He was driving a Mccarthy Heating Oil Service Inc-owned truck.
A 2006 Toyota Avalon was involved, and an off-duty police officer helped rescue and render aid to those in the vehicle, according to state police. They were taken to a hospital with suspected minor injuries. The occupants of the Toyota Avalon have been identified as Chartel Butler and Reginald Collins.
A police report later on Friday detailed the events that led up to the massive explosion.
Police said the Toyota Avalon was traveling on I-95 South in the right lane, approaching the Gold Star Memorial Bridge. While traveling southbound, the Toyota Avalon sustained a tire failure, causing the tire to deflate. The Toyota Avalon then traveled from the right lane, across the left acceleration lane, and into the right acceleration lane for the Bridge Street entrance ramp.
The Toyota Avalon came to a stop within the right acceleration lane on the Gold Star Memorial Bridge. At this time, a 2001 Kenworth T300, Faquet III's truck, was transporting home heating oil southbound within the right acceleration lane. The Kenworth T300 continued southbound where its front end collided with the rear end of the stopped Toyota Avalon.
Then the Kenworth T300 began to roll over and a post-collision fire ensued. The post-collision fire engulfed the immediate area including both vehicles and portions of the Gold Star Bridge. Faquet III sustained fatal injuries.
Videos from the scene showed flames burning and smoke rising from a lengthy section of the bridge and spreading to a construction and marine company below on the Groton side.
"I am a retired submarine guy so I've seen some real casualties before - this was pretty impressive," Groton Mayor Keith Kedrick told the media. "We were talking about the smoke and the heat of the fire - the intensity of it - and that is going to be one of the challenges of it."
Kedrick said Friday afternoon that the fire melted some of the guardrails and structural engineers will have to evaluate the southbound side of the bridge.
A photo taken from below the bridge shows the damage to the guardrail.
"It was absolutely amazing," Kedrick said. "I've never seen anything like that."
Hedrick said flaming debris fell from the bridge and caused brush fires below, but no one on the ground there was injured. He also said no buildings caught on fire, conflicting with early reports by state police.
The state transportation commissioner, Garrett Eucalitto, said it was not immediately clear when the southbound bridge would reopen. He said about 60,000 vehicles a day travel over the spans.
“It’s going to require us to do an extensive look at the steel structure to see when it will be safe to open it,” he said.
Eucalitto added that state Department of Transportation officials were considering whether converting the northbound bridge into two directions was feasible.
Seth Bottone, 48, was leaving work to head home from Groton as he does every day when he saw the smoke and flames engulfing the bridge. Bottone snapped a video of the flames and was audibly in shock.
“I saw the smoke from a distance, thought it was something from underneath,” he said. “As I got closer, I was like, ‘oh my goodness.’”
Bottone said police then directed traffic to turn around and head northbound.
The Naval Submarine Base in New London sent its firefighters to help with the fire, the Navy Region Mid-Atlantic Public Affairs Office confirmed to FOX61.
The fire had no impact on the sub-base and remains open for normal operations, officials said.
Due to it being a fuel fire, the U.S. Coast Guard put up oil booms to contain any contaminated water and prevent it from getting into the Long Island Sound.
The Groton mayor said the tide was coming in, which worked in their favor.
DEEP also placed oil booms to collect the contaminated water and has gathered around 85% of it as of Friday afternoon.
Buildings below the bridge were on fire, according to state police. Injuries were reported.
The Gold Star Memorial Bridge, Connecticut’s largest passenger and truck bridge at 6,000 feet in length, has been undergoing a major overhaul. In January, U.S. Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg visited New London to announce that $158 million from a new federal infrastructure law was being awarded to accelerate repairs on the northbound span.
Images from the Gold Star Bridge truck fire
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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