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And It Wasn’t Even Snowing Down There

2 comments

NOTICE:  Since this video report was posted we have learned that this incident occurred in 1995.  The tv station was apparently running a reprise for some reason.  But we’ll leave the video posted for now because it is interesting.  Read the Comment from Brian for some good insight.

We’re sorry for any misunderstandings, but they began here.

AS INTERSTATE-10 APPROACHES MOBILE, ALABAMA, it traverses Mobile Bay on a causeway known locally as the Bayway.  Early this morning (Monday), shortly before 7 am a fog bank drifted into the bay and blanketed the Bayway bringing visibility down to zero instantly.

As the rush-hour traffic was building up, the Bayway was getting congested when the fog rolled in.  It didn’t take long for the chain-reaction accidents to start happening.  Within a few minutes there were five separate pile-ups on both eastbound and westbound lanes involving 130 vehicles, including a Mobile FD fire engine.

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WALA-TV

By the time it was over and the fog lifted enough for rescuers to find their way to all the wrecks, there was one person dead and several dozen injured.  Packaging and transporting all those injured victims from an isolated location was a genuine challenge for the EMS  and fire units.

WALA-TV Ch. 10 has a good, comprehensive video report on the entire incident that covered a 2-mile stretch of the causeway in each direction:

Posted by on February 8, 2010 • Filed under: Mass Casualty Incident, rescue, Rescues, Videos
  • Brian Gilliland

    Please be aware that this incident did not occur this morning (Feb. 10, 2010). It happened almost FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, in April, 1995.

    I was assigned to the second paramedic rescue unit to arrive on the scene. We had to build a command structure on both ends of the chain of wrecked cars, on two separate bridges, from two different counties.

    We were forced to crawl over vehicles, building human chains to pass the injured over the wreckage to treatment areas.

  • Brian Gilliland

    Please be aware that this incident did not occur this morning (Feb. 10, 2010). It happened almost FIFTEEN YEARS AGO, in April, 1995.

    I was assigned to the second paramedic rescue unit to arrive on the scene. We had to build a command structure on both ends of the chain of wrecked cars, on two separate bridges, from two different counties.

    We were forced to crawl over vehicles, building human chains to pass the injured over the wreckage to treatment areas.