Pre-arrival video of an intense truck fire after a rear-end collision involving two semi-trailer trucks (VIDEO CREDIT: Todd Sherman).
Channahon and Troy firefighters responded about 6:20 a.m. Tuesday October 1, 2013 to a truck crash involving a sedan on southbound I-55 near Bluff Road and just north of the bridge over the Des Plaines River. The driver of a 1995 Ford Taurus sedan was injured when one of the trucks was pushed into it after the truck was rear-ended by another truck. Neither truck driver was injured.
The gas that is venting is Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) which is used in traditional gasoline/internal combustion engine vehicles that have been converted into bi-fuel vehicles (gasoline/CNG) or other possible configurations. It is unknown if the truck was transporting CNG tanks or was actually a vehicle powered by CNG.
Traffic was stopped in both directions on Interstate 55 during firefighting operations while the firefighting operations took about two hours to extinguish the fire.
Illinois State police diverted southbound traffic to U.S. 6 until the southbound lanes reopened at noon. Northbound lanes reopened about 10:00 a.m.
Construction zones were located in the area of the crash, and citizens of Illinois are critical of lack of moving violation enforcement and lax driving requirements for truck drivers.
See also …
Firefighter Near Miss Auto Fire with Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) Fuel Tank Explosion [PDF]
The truck is fueled by CNG or was. This video is a great demonstration of how the safety of CNG is real. The tanks do not explode like people may think. The pressure relief device works as designed and vents gas instead of the tank heating and exploding. Unfortunate that this accident happened but it does show that even in an intense fire, the CNG fuel system on the truck is safe!