Jan 12, 2008 4:36 pm US/Pacific
Family Rescued From Fiery East LA Crash
Motorists Asked To Avoid The East L.A. Interchange
Passengers Suffer Minor Injuries When Truck Crashes Into Car
LOS ANGELES (CBS) ―
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A family of three were rescued from a fiery crash in East LA, which snarled traffic on several freeways.
CBS
A black cloud, visible from 20 miles away, rose from a burning trailer full of tires in the East L.A. Interchange, as a motorist pulled three members of his family out of a car sitting under that wrecked truck. Witnesses said a truck's trailer came to rest on top of a car in the crash on a stretch of freeway known for abrupt merging and slowing maneuvers.
Three people inside that vehicle were pulled out by a man who saw his wife's car disappear beneath the truck as a family motorcade was travelling to Disneyland.
Witnesses said that a man saw the car, driven by his wife, go under the truck on the Golden State (5) Freeway near Fourth Street, where traffic heading to the Santa Ana (5) Freeway merges left and traffic heading to the Santa Monica (10) Freeway merges right.
Firefighters said the husband pulled his wife, his daughter and one other person out of the car as tires began burning around them.
Two persons with minor injuries were taken from the accident to nearby White Memorial Hospital in Boyle Heights, firefighters said.
The truck's trailer, filled with tires, burned in a spectacular fire visible from 20 miles away. Los Angeles city firefighters used fire hydrants on nearby streets, and hoisted hoses onto the elevated stretch of freeway, to deliver water to other trucks battling the flames.
Los Angeles fire spokesman Brian Humphrey said the blaze burned for 38 minutes, and that some 60 firefighters battled it. He confirmed that all three persons in the car apparently were pulled to safety.
The East L.A. interchange is a tangled series of ramps and overpasses linking the Golden State (5), Santa Ana (5), Santa Monica (10), Pomona (60) and Hollywood (101) freeways, and a dozen surface streets also weave through the bridges. Traffic was reported to be stopped on all five routes.
Stranded cars were reportedly driving the wrong direction on freeway lanes and onramps Saturday, trying to get out of the traffic mess. Firefighters were still extinguishing smoldering palm trees on the freeway's side an hour after the wreck.
Highway Patrol officers advised motorists to avoid the East L.A. interchange by using the Long Beach (710), San Bernardino (10) and Harbor (110) freeways around the area. But those roads were heavily-clogged with traffic backed up from the interchange closure.
(© 2009 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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