Driver killed after tractor-trailer carrying 40,000 pounds of ammo catches fire, closes part of I-40

Exploding ammo in trailer kept responders at bay for a time

Smoke from a tractor-trailer wreck rises near traffic Wednesday on U.S. 64 outside Mulberry in Franklin County. The driver of the tractor-trailer died after the vehicle, which was hauling 40,000 pounds of ammunition, caught fire on Interstate 40.
Smoke from a tractor-trailer wreck rises near traffic Wednesday on U.S. 64 outside Mulberry in Franklin County. The driver of the tractor-trailer died after the vehicle, which was hauling 40,000 pounds of ammunition, caught fire on Interstate 40.

The driver of a tractor-trailer rig died Wednesday when the truck, which was hauling 40,000 pounds of ammunition, crashed on Interstate 40 in Franklin County and caught fire, authorities said.

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Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

A map showing of the tractor trailer wreck near Mulberry.

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NWA Democrat-Gazette

Law enforcement personnel redirect traffic off Interstate 40 at Exit 35 near Ozark. The driver of a tractor-trailer has died after the vehicle, which was hauling 40,000 pounds of ammunition, caught fire on Interstate 40 in Franklin County.

A portion of the interstate near Mulberry was closed Wednesday afternoon as rescue crews waited for the blaze to die down so they could clear the scene, according to the Arkansas State Police.

[FATAL WRECKS: Complete coverage of deadly crashes in Arkansas]

Later, eastbound lanes on I-40 reopened, but westbound lanes were still closed at 7 p.m., according to a state police post on Twitter.

Trooper Liz Chapman, a spokesman for the state police, said Wednesday evening that the fire had been extinguished.

Chapman said the driver was trapped in the tractor-trailer and died in the fire. The driver's identity was not known and was likely to be listed as "unknown" in a preliminary report, she said.

Chapman said the body would be sent to the state Crime Laboratory for autopsy.

Fred Mullen, emergency management coordinator for Franklin County, said as of 7:20 p.m. that crews were dousing some hot spots and waiting for a cleanup crew to arrive at the scene.

He said the truck was traveling westbound on I-40 when it went over a guardrail and down to Lone Elm Road, a county road that extends under the interstate.

The truck was on fire when first responders arrived, Mullen said. The blaze spread to the cargo area, which contained small-arms ammunition, and there were multiple explosions because of that ammunition, he said.

Initially, authorities decided not to battle the flames, Mullen said, because of the explosions and uncertainty about what else might be in the trailer. Instead, crews set up a defensive perimeter and created a suppression plan, he said.

"There were many unknowns, [and] not very many knowns," Mullen said. He mentioned that some ammunition can react with water.

Shortly after 4 p.m., state Department of Highway and Transportation crews were en route to the scene to assess the structural integrity of the overpass at Lone Elm Road in Mulberry, said Danny Straessle, spokesman for the department.

It was not immediately clear whether the accident happened on the overpass or nearby.

The rural area surrounding the single-vehicle crash was not evacuated, but traffic in that area was rerouted.

Metro on 02/23/2017

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