GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — Gwinnett Police described Saturday's crash initially as a run-of-the-mill accident, but when officers arrived on the scene, they said they saw a fireball in the sky.
"As they got closer, they could see an overturned tanker truck that was completely engulfed. At that point, the entire 85 northbound was shut down to traffic. DeKalb County (Police) assisted in beginning to divert traffic at Pleasantdale Road, which is well south of the accident as a precaution," said Gwinnett Police Officer Jacob Albright.
"Drivers that were between the accident and where traffic was being diverted were all evacuated out of their vehicles. The reason for this is because when this truck fire exploded the way it did, it began to spread into the sewer drain," Albright said.
The fire spread quickly. As officers were working to divert traffic in the northbound lanes of the highway, they could see explosions coming out of manhole covers on the southbound side of I-85, they said.
"At this point, traffic was halted on Interstate 85 southbound, starting at Beaver Ruin," Albright said. "The access road, Dawson Boulevard, which runs along 85 -- several of those businesses were also evacuated for fear that they might share the same sewer system and suffer fire damage also."
Gwinnett Fire Lieutenant Justin Wilson said fire dispatchers initially received a report of a vehicle fire on I-85 just south of Jimmy Carter Boulevard at about 7:50 a.m.
With the wreck happening between Jimmy Carter and Pleasantdale Road, crews from DeKalb County responded also. Both crews immediately deployed their hazmat teams and, working together, developed a game plan to allow the fuel to burn, because it was already entering the storm drains.
"We allowed it (the fire) to burn and control those spot fires," Wilson said. "With the fuel spreading underground, we did not want to put any firefighting foam on it, in order to prevent the spread to the south of that location."
The fuel was actually coming up through storm drains in front of Ole Mexican Foods on Crescent Drive. That is when flames spread to some brush and a power pole, which caused a power outage in the area.
"The quick actions of law enforcement in that area, we were able to evacuate the people who were stuck in traffic on I-85 northbound back to Pleasantdale, get them out of their cars -- without knowing where this fuel was going to spread underground," Wilson said.
Hundreds of gallons of fuel leaked from the tanker, and without knowing exactly where it was going, crews worked to ensure that everyone in the area remained safe.
"We have determined that this was 8,500 gallons of fuel -- 7,500 was gasoline, 1,000 was diesel fuel, combined with whatever was in the saddle tanks," Wilson said. "When that erupted, it first burned away the aluminum tanker."
Once that burned away, it allowed the fuel to spill onto the ground and into the storm drain.
With the quick thinking and experience of the hazmat crews, they were able to limit what could have become an even more disastrous situation.
Officials later determined that two people died in the fiery crash.