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Truck driver dies in fiery I-95 wreck




Firefighter Thomas Evans of the Silver Lake Volunteer Fire Department works atop a ladder with firefighters from the Coopers Volunteer Fire Department to extinguish a fire sparked by a fatal Sunday crash on Interstate 95. Drew C. Wilson | Times

State troopers say a tractor-trailer driver died in a fiery Interstate 95 wreck in Nash County’s Coopers community on Sunday.

1st Sgt. D.B. Pope of the North Carolina Highway Patrol said the wreck happened at 2:15 p.m. near the highway’s overpass at N.C. 58 south of Rocky Mount. 



Pope said witnesses told troopers that a tractor-trailer and SUV were traveling northbound with the SUV in the inside lane and the big rig on the outside lane.

“The tractor-trailer veered to the left and collected the SUV, and they both ran off into the median,” Pope said, citing witness accounts. “And both of the vehicles involved in the crash caught fire.”

The truck driver, Thomas L. Reeves, 57, of Pembroke, died at the scene.

The driver of the Chrysler Pacifica involved in the crash was identified as Katiya R. Robinson, 43, of Parkton. Robinson suffered a broken ankle in the crash, according to Investigating Trooper J.R. Lewis, of the North Carolina Highway Patrol.

Lewis said the deadly crash remained under investigation.

Andrew Barksdale, public relations officer with the N.C. Department of Transportation, said the crash happened at mile marker 130, which is near Sharpsburg and the Sandy Cross community. 

Barksdale said the 18-wheeler was carrying plastic black flowerpots.

Firefighters from the Coopers Volunteer Fire Department were first to arrive, with West Mount Volunteer Fire Department crews arriving soon thereafter.

Jason Bissette, assistant chief of the Silver Lake Volunteer Fire Department, said his department was dispatched about 20 minutes after the crash to provide tankers and manpower support.

“When we arrived, the bulk of the fire from the car and the cab of the truck was pretty much out,” Bissette said. “Because of the cargo of the truck, it was a difficult time to get the fire completely out because it was carrying potted plants. You could tell where the flames had reached all the way to the top of the pine trees.”

The truck came to rest in the median between the north and southbound lanes about 150 to 200 feet from the N.C. 58 bridge, which crosses over the interstate.
“The cab was totally gone,” Bissette said. “The only thing left was the motor and the shell of anything metal.”

Bissette said the area around the victim was quarantined with sheets during the recovery effort.

An area of about one half acre in the median was burned.

“All the residual pine straw and dried-up mulch and everything else that the state put down was on fire,” Bissette said. “It had burned also, and it damaged the power lines also that were inconveniently right above where the accident happened.”

Firefighters climbed a ladder positioned on the side of the trailer to spray water into the top.

“We also had a piercing nozzle in from the side,” Bissette said. “It’s a long tube with a spray nozzle on the end of it, and that penetrates into the metal of wood or anything. And we had to push that into the one side of the truck to try to get the water in there so we could cool the cargo down and put it out.”

“We were trying to make an access hole to where we thought the fire was so we could get the nozzle directly onto where the fire was,” Bissette added. “We were trying to get a direct angle on it instead of having to go through the pallets that were stacked up with the plants in them and everything.”

The NCDOT closed the inside lanes of Interstate 95 in both directions so firefighters would have room to work safely. Fire crews worked the fire from both sides of the median.

“When you are running an accident scene on (Interstate) 95, it gets crazy with everybody running 70-plus mph,” Bissette said. “Everybody is looking at what’s going on and they are not concentrating on driving. It’s very hazardous.”

Bissette said between 25 and 30 firefighters responded from the three departments.

“It was very fortunate that it did get under control as quick as it did, as big as it was,” he said.

A Coopers Volunteer Fire Department firefighter surveys a burned trailer following a Sunday wreck on Interstate 95 that killed the tractor-trailer’s driver. Drew C. Wilson | Times

Bissette said the fire’s location made the operation difficult.

“Coopers is right through the woods of the fire, but they had to go all the way around to get on because there is no interchange right there at 58, so that took some time.” Bissette said. “It’s very difficult when you get a call on (Interstate) 95 because we have to come up to (N.C.) 97 to go down if anything happens between (I-95 mile markers) 127 and 121, so that prolongs the response time on everybody. To get there and put it out as quick as they did was very fortunate.”

Nash County EMS responded, along with the Nash County Sheriff’s Office. 

The crash caused a considerable delay in northbound and southbound traffic while the crash scene was cleaned up and the investigation continued.

Barksdale said the scene was cleared at 9:59 p.m. 

Bissette said that no firefighters were injured.