Vail police: Truck burst into flames Wednesday after rear-ending another semi on I-70
Courtesy image/Chris Granger
A fiery crash that shut down Interstate 70 in Vail on Wednesday involved two semi-trailers, an officer with the Vail police department has confirmed.
Sergeant Rebecca Anderson responded to the accident and said while it’s still under investigation, it appears that one semi-trailer was stopped in traffic, headed eastbound, when it was hit from behind by another semi-trailer.
“The tractor of the semi which hit the stopped semi immediately started on fire,” Anderson said. “The fire then spread to the trailer on the same semi.”
The driver of the vehicle that burst into flames, a man from California, was transported to Vail Health Hospital with injuries, Anderson said.
“I do not have any information on what injuries he suffered,” Anderson said.
Support Local Journalism
The incident took place just after 6 p.m., shutting down I-70 for more than two hours while crews worked to contain the blaze. By 6:19 p.m., both the westbound and eastbound lanes of the interstate were shut down along with South Frontage Road in Vail. South Frontage Road reopened at 7:06 p.m., allowing traffic to travel east on South Frontage Road to detour around the closure.
A single westbound lane was reopened at 7:14 p.m., and by 8:12 p.m., crews had reopened both lanes in the westbound direction.
The eastbound lanes were closed at 6:08 p.m., with one lane reopening at 8:20 p.m. The other lane was not reopened until 6:36 a.m. on Thursday.
