GREENFIELD — Two early morning accidents, including one involving a semitrailer hauling food that caught fire, closed Interstate 70 for hours Thursday.
Just after 5 a.m., a semitrailer headed eastbound on I-70 caught fire near the Greenfield exit, officials said. Emergency crews shut down the eastbound lanes of the interstate as they fought the blaze in the truck, which was hauling food at the time, said Capt. Robert Campbell of the Hancock County Sheriff’s Department.
The driver of the truck, whose name has not been released, was not injured, Campbell said.
What followed the first accident was a chain reaction that kept local emergency responders tied up for most of the morning and early afternoon.
Stopped traffic caused a five-vehicle accident three miles west of the fire, near the Mt. Comfort Road exit, Campbell said. Two semitrailers and three passenger vehicles were involved; one person was transported to a nearby hospital with injuries said to not be life-threatening.
The interstate was closed in both directions at about 6:30 a.m. as emergency crews worked to clear away debris from the crash, Campbell said; I-70 was not completely re-opened until nearly seven hours later, around 1:20 p.m., he said.
Interstate traffic was re-routed onto Greenfield area roads, bringing semitrailers and passenger cars alike onto U.S. 40 and State Road 9 and snarling traffic well into the afternoon.
