Tanker truck crash kills driver, causes spectacular fire, explosions

Martin Griffith

Sunday, Sept. 27, 1998 | 12:03 p.m.

RENO, Nev. - A tanker truck hauling as much as 14,000 gallons of gasoline crashed at a busy intersection here Saturday, killing the driver and causing a spectacular fire and series of explosions.

Fire Battalion Chief Ronald Nordmeyer said four nearby vehicles were destroyed by flames, but all eight occupants escaped serious injury.

The 4 p.m. crash sent up a 400-foot-high smoke plume that could be seen for miles and a 60-foot high wall of flames that covered the entire intersection of McCarran Boulevard and Pembroke Lane.

It also touched off a series of powerful explosions that could be felt throughout much of the Reno area.

"I thought it was a jetliner that crashed," said Libby Starr, who lives in a nearby apartment. "I've never seen or heard anything like it. It was unbelievable."

Witnesses said the truck driver, whose name wasn't immediately released, was southbound on McCarran when he swerved to avoid hitting two other southbound vehicles stopped at the intersection.

The truck went out of control and overturned, bursting into flames. Ironically, the other vehicle drivers stopped shortly before to assist at the scene of a two-vehicle accident at the intersection.

"The truck driver was almost on them when he realized they were stopped," said LeAnn Cox of Reno, who was in a car at the intersection at the time. "He hit the brakes and skidded forever since it was raining.

"I really think he took evasive action to save other people's lives. The tanker missed us by 20 feet; I don't know how it missed us. I'm still shaking, it was so close."

The emergency flashers of the other vehicles weren't on and no flares were at the scene of the earlier accident, Mrs. Cox said.

Nordmeyer said an undetermined amount of gas spilled into nearby Steamboat Creek, a Truckee River tributary. It was unknown exactly how much gas the tanker was carrying, he said.

Washoe County health officials planned to investigate the spill after the fire was out. The fire still was burning Saturday evening.