Six dead, injured range from age 2 to 80, when blowing dust triggers fiery crashes on I-55
Six people died and more than 30 ranging from 2 to 80 years old were injured in a series of fiery crashes involving multiple vehicles along a two-mile stretch of Interstate 55 near Farmersville on Monday morning.
Officials are blaming “brown-out” conditions caused by high winds that blew dust and smoke across the highway.
More than 30 agencies and 100 emergency personnel assisted in the treatment and transport of the injured and the clearing of damaged vehicles from the highway, according to Illinois State Police and other officials who held two news briefings on Monday afternoon.
As of 4:30 p.m., all vehicle fires had been extinguished, but fire departments remained on the scene in case any “hot spots” caused fires to reignite. The main goal right now is removing vehicles and inspecting the highway to determine when it’s safe to reopen, said State Police Major Ryan Starrick.
In the meantime, Interstate 55 has been shut down in both directions, from Milepost 63 to Milepost 80 in Divernon, just south of Springfield. It likely will remain closed through Tuesday morning, Starrick said.
Evan Schott, director of the Montgomery County Emergency Management Agency, told reporters at the second news briefing that the biggest challenge had been locating the injured for immediate treatment.
“We had multiple vehicles involved,” he said. “Some were on fire. So we had vehicle fires to extinguish. We had to search every vehicle, whether they were involved in the accident or just pulled over, to check for injuries. (Another challenge was) getting them out of there rapidly and getting them to the hospital so we could provide professional care.”
At 10:55 a.m. Monday, there was a crash on northbound Interstate 55 at Milepost 76. Around the same time, there were multiple crashes on southbound Interstate 55. All the crashes occurred within a two-mile stretch, roughly from Milepost 76 to Milepost 78.
Approximately 30 commercial motor vehicles and 40 to 60 passenger cars were involved. That includes two truck-tractor semi-trailers that caught fire, according to State Police.
All the fatalities occurred in the northbound lane. Names have not yet been released by the Montgomery County coroner’s office.
“Reunification” points, where families can reunite with loved ones, are set up to the north and south of the crash area, Starrick said.
After consulting with the National Weather Service, officials expect the winds to die down and visibility to improve by 7:30 or 8 p.m.
Starrick described the scene as a “wall of dust” with an effect that’s similar to “white-out conditions” during a snowstorm. He suggested that people out driving in such conditions turn on their hazard lights.
“My heart goes out to the families and ... anybody that found themselves involved in this particular situation,” he said. “It sounds like due to the low visibility, the high winds ... everything just came together, unfortunately, on this particular stretch of I-55. My heart goes out to them.”
Starrick said such blinding dust storms have happened before on Illinois roads “where unfortunately you have excessively high winds” that blow the topsoil from fields. Farmers are currently busy planting fields across Illinois and the Midwest region.
“My team and I are closely following the devastating crash on I-55 as authorities learn more,” said Rep. Nikki Budzinski on Twitter. “Please be safe as this situation continues to unfold.”
This story was originally published May 1, 2023 at 6:43 PM.
