Nurse’s highway heroics save tanker driver’s life

Keith Paul and Jace Radke

Thursday, Aug. 3, 2000 | 11:03 a.m.

A quick-responding nurse plucked a dazed tanker truck driver from a burning wreck just moments before 8,700 gallons of gasoline erupted in a giant fireball over U.S. 95 Wednesday afternoon.

The women's heroics came right after a fiery crash about 1:45 p.m. on southbound U.S. 95 just before the Harmon Avenue overpass between Flamingo Road and Tropicana Avenue.

Truck driver Herman Lockerby was standing near his crashed and burning tractor and two tankers of gasoline he was hauling when the nurse came to his rescue.

"She saw the accident, turned around and helped the truck driver away from the area." said Trooper Alan Davidson of the Nevada Highway Patrol. "She put him in her car and drove him up to the ambulance. She left the area, and we didn't get her name. I just wanted to personally thank her. She was a hero."

Lockerby's truck crashed after a rear tire blew out on a tractor truck being towed by another big rig, causing driver Ronald Beal, 39, of Las Vegas to swerve across the roadway and the towed truck to collide with Lockerby's tractor.

Lockerby's truck then jackknifed, turned over onto its side and burst into flames. The fire then spread to the two gasoline tankers and the truck that was being towed. Beal's truck escaped the blaze.

Charles Bishop, a passenger in Beal's truck, was listed this morning in critical condition in University Medical Center. Lockerby was listed in fair condition at UMC. Beal and another passenger in his truck, David Hill, were treated at the hospital and released.

Flames from the fire shot 100 feet into the sky and a cloud of black smoke was visible throughout the Las Vegas Valley after the crash. The accident shut down traffic on U.S. 95 in both directions from Boulder Highway to Tropicana Avenue for hours. Northbound lanes were reopened about 5 p.m. and the southbound lanes opened at 9 p.m.

Clark County and Las Vegas firefighters allowed the 8,700 gallons of gasoline to burn for about 90 minutes before dousing the flames with fire retardant foam and water mixture.

"The foam creates a barrier that smothers the fire," assistant fire chief Bill Kolar said as he stood on the Harmon Avenue overpass watching firefighters douse the flames.

About 20 gallons of foam mixed with hundreds of gallons of water was used to smother the flames on the charred and mangled skeletons of the tankers.

"We let it burn down a little because we didn't want to risk the lives of any firefighters," said Bob Leinbach, county fire department spokesman. "We also wanted to make sure we had enough resources here to handle any of the gas seeping out of the tanker when we started to fight it. We didn't want any of it getting to a storm drain."

The county's hazardous materials unit was at the scene, but once it was determined that the spill was gasoline the team went to work as a normal engine crew, Leinbach said.

Extreme heat from the fire melted part of the freeway sign hanging down from the Harmon overpass, but caused only minor damage to the freeway, Nevada Department of Transportation spokesman Bob McKenzie said.

"An inspector took a look at the overpass bridge and the freeway and found no damage, except for some discoloring from smoke," McKenzie said.

Residents in the neighborhood near Flamingo Road and U.S. 95 reported hearing several explosions as the fuel caught fire and the cloud of thick black smoke rolled into a neighborhood.

Jamie Johansen and many residents gathered in the street near Oakhill Avenue and Bluecrest Road, after calling 911 to report the explosions and smoke.

"All I heard was this big boom, and I looked through my sliding glass door and yelled to call 911," Johansen said. "I kept hearing boom, boom, boom, every two seconds.

A Metro Police officer said a number of people in the neighborhood complained of nausea and headaches after the fire.

Resident Cassy Salazar said she heard the crash of the two trucks before the explosions and knew that there had been an accident.

"It was like two minutes of screeching" Salazar said. "All of the sudden I heard six explosions, and I thought my house had caught on fire. It's scary."

Sun reporter Diana Sahagun contributed to this story.