Semi Catches Fire on I-95; No Injuries
This past Tuesday, there was an accident involving a semi-trailer truck where it caught on fire as it was southbound on Interstate 95 in Martin County, Florida. The accident and the subsequent effort to clean it up resulted in major traffic jams and delays for many hours. This was because most (if not all) southbound lanes on the highway had to be blocked off by the authorities. The lanes which were shut down were located around south of the Bridge Road exit in the area. The cargo load of the truck was Pringles potato chips.
As reported on the website, the Florida Department of Transportation shared that the time of the incident was approximately 6:21 am. They also went on to add where it took place, specifying the location as north of Indiantown Road and southwest of Hobe Sound, around the exit near mile marker 93. There is also a video available which depicts the truck laid on its side.
Traffic was affected rather badly due to this. For most of the morning, there wasn’t much movement and there was a tailback that stretched for eight miles, going all the way to the Kanner Highway exit. Finally, after eight hours of enduring the traffic jam, relief came at noon (roughly around 2 pm) when the Florida Highway Patrol announced that the roads had been cleared and that all lanes were now open and safe for driving.
Road crews were on the scene and kept themselves occupied by clearing all the debris strewn across the interstate due to the accident. The members of the clean-up crew included firefighters, first responders and other clean-up details.
Also of note is that no one in the truck nor anyone in the surrounding area was harmed or injured in any way. There were no casualties or only minor injuries as per reports of the incident. At the same time, it remains unclear what may have caused the semi-truck to be lit ablaze.