May/June
2001
Handling
the Worst Crash Ever in Virginia
by Melissa A. Winn
On
Feb. 20, 2001, it reached 65 degrees (19 degrees Celsius) in Stafford,
Va.; 53 degrees (12 C) on Feb. 21. However, on Feb. 22, the highest
temperature was only 27 degrees (-3 C), and a sudden snowstorm dropped
more than an inch (3 centimeters) of snow in a matter of minutes,
creating whiteout conditions that took everyone by surprise. The scene
was set for what would become Virginia's worst crash ever - a 117-vehicle
pileup that left one person dead and 31 others injured.
The 10:50
a.m. pileup occurred on the busy north-south Interstate 95, halting
traffic in the southbound lanes for hours and jamming traffic throughout
Northern Virginia. What happened next was a massive, cooperative effort
by fire and rescue units, the state police, and the Virginia Department
of Transportation (VDOT). The impressive response of public safety
and transportation personnel facilitated clearing the crash scene
and reopening the highway in only 12 hours.
Fire
and Rescue
The call was dispatched at 10:51 a.m., and Stafford's Volunteer Fire
and Rescue squads arrived on the scene of the I-95 crash at 10:55
a.m."Our
first order of business," said Lt. Charlie Robertson of Stafford's
Volunteer Fire Squad, "was a report that a woman was trapped
in a burning car."
Robertson
reported that the squad was able to put the fire out and was relieved
to find that the woman was not in the car. She had escaped. After
the fire was out, the magnitude of the scene began to unfold.
"We
were not initially aware of the extent of the scene," Robertson
said, "After we got the fire out, we had to set up a triage for
all vehicles. We suddenly found ourselves in the extrication of about
20 vehicles."
Shortly
after putting out the fire, a second call reported that another woman
was trapped in her vehicle. Fire and rescue squads freed her from
the car, but the woman died of a heart attack on the way to the hospital.She
was the one fatality in the 117-vehicle pileup. She was on her way
to pick up her teen-age son from an area high school where classes
had been canceled due to inclement weather.
Fire
and rescue personnel continued to interview the people in each vehicle
to determine the status of all persons involved in the crash. In all,
they determined that 14 people with injuries were in need of transport
to area hospitals. Only three injuries were determined to be of a
serious nature, one of which was the woman who eventually died. The
three patients in critical condition were transported in a short time
on the first ambulance to the hospital.
In all,
six fire trucks with water hoses, eight to 10 ambulances, a couple
of heavy squads (fire trucks equipped with rescue equipment and first-aid
equipment, but without a water hose), and four or five utility vehicles
were dispatched to the scene. The number of vehicles involved in the
crash and the location of those vehicles made it nearly impossible
for most rescue vehicles to get to the head of the crash scene where
a fire and rescue command post had been established. The scene was
so hard to maneuver around that in order to get a hoseclose enough
to put out the fire at the scene, the firemen had to take the charged
line through the windows of one car, around another car, and underneath
several tractor trailers.
|
A
record number of vehicles were involved in the Feb 22 crash
on I-95 in Stafford County, VA. The 117-vehicle pileup resulted
in one fatality and 31 injuries. |
|
"We
had to use 500 feet (150 meters) of hose to get to the fire to get
it out," Robertson said. "We had to weave it through and
around the vehicles. The working room was limited."
|
Some
of the vehicles burned |
|
Fire
and rescue personnel also initiated the setup of a shelter for people
involved in the crash who were not injured but were not able to leave
the scene because police had yet to get their statements. The shelter
was set up at a nearby elementary school, which was available because
classes had been canceled due to weather. Buses were recruited to
take people to the shelter, and the Red Cross was contacted to assist
people at the shelter. The auxiliary fire department also provided
food and refreshments.
State
Police
In any
traffic incident, state police are typically called on to investigate
why and how the crash occurred and to directtraffic at the scene.
On Feb. 22, they faced the arduous task of trying to determine who,
if anybody, was at fault for the 117-vehicle pileup. At 1:10 p.m.,
a team of 20 troopers, including special agents from the Bureau of
Criminal Investigations, arrived on the scene, supervised by 1st Sgt.
Jeff Fox.
|
It
was necessary for rescue personnel to cut the roof off some
vehicles to remove the occupants. |
|
Trooper
Dan Redifer of the state police was in charge of reconstructing the
accident scene. He broke the scene down into quadrants. He then assigned
troopers to each quadrant to get witness statements, trace the scene,
and develop a diagram that would illustrate the location of every
vehicle in the crash.The on-scene investigation took hours, and state
police worked on it throughout the night until 6 a.m. the next morning.
For weeks following the crash, state police continued the investigation.
"It
was an extremely cumbersome task to try to determine who was at fault,"
said Lucy Caldwell of the Public Affairs Office for the state police.
"Numerous motorists lost control. We won't probably ever be able
to say."
"It
was a complex process to track all of the people down," said
Caldwell, explaining the long investigation. "Many people had
abandoned their cars. Some people were going on vacation or were from
out of town. Some had rental cars, and for some, language was a barrier.
These may not be that big of a problem for a small two-car crash,
but in this case, it was extremely time-consuming."
Besides
the number of people and vehicles involved in the crash, a number
of other factors further complicated the situation. The continuing
snow and the overall weather conditions created a constant burden
for everyone at the scene. Also, there were numerous crashes in the
area that day, and information was coming from all over. The number
of vehicles involved in the crash was in constant question for some
time. For a while, the 117-vehicle crash was reported as five or six
separate crashes, and it took some time to decipher that those five
or six crashes were, in fact, one large crash. To add to the confusion,
communications were strained for the state police because troopers
do not have cell phones.
"That
day was a crisis situation," Caldwell said. "And with any
crisis situation, it's difficult to get information out quickly. Everyday
isn't a crisis, so cost and resources are allocated to other issues
besides cell phones.
"I
don't think our troopers could've improved upon it," Caldwell
said of the communications effort of the state police that day. "As
soon as we got word about the crash, we put it out to the public."
Caldwell
explained that despite the misinformation about how many vehicles
were involved in the pileup and how many crashes occurred, "It
wouldn't have changed the message to the public that day: 'I-95 lanes
are closed; please avoid I-95, if possible.'"
Virginia
Department of Transportation
Virginia has the third largest state-maintained highway system in
the country - just behind North Carolina and Texas. The Virginia Department
of Transportation (VDOT) is responsible for building, maintaining,
and operating the state's roads,
bridges,
and tunnels. And, through the Commonwealth Transportation Board, it
also provides funding for airports,seaports, rail, and public transportation.
When
an incident occurs, VDOT is responsible for traffic control, including
setting up detours and moving traffic with message boards and signs.
VDOT is also responsible for cleaning debris or spills at crash scenes
and for removing snow from the roadway using chemicals and/or plows.
On Feb. 22, VDOT arrived on the scene at approximately 1:15 p.m. and
immediately had to play a dual role in the 117-vehicle pileup.
|
As
a result of impacts and spinning on the slick highway, vehicles
were turned in all directions. |
|
"In
this accident, we had to continue to fight the snow and ice, manage
the detour, and work with fire and rescue and state police to direct
traffic," said Charlie Kilpatrick, VDOT resident engineer of
the Fredericksburg residency.
Earlier
in the day, VDOT had also begun to lay chemicals normally applied
to roads when winter weather conditions occur or are expected. Standard
practice for VDOT is to apply sodium chloride (rock salt) or calcium
chloride, which is a liquid.
"The
challenge with this storm is that the storm came so quickly, and at
the same time, accidents were occurring, and traffic was not moving,"
Kilpatrick said. The lack of traffic moving at regular speeds keeps
the chemicals from being spread effectively along the road.
"My
primary concern when I arrived on the scene was the size of the accident
- the number of vehicles and trucks in such a small area. Most of
the accident was less than the length of two football fields. All
the vehicles were piled up, packed. It looked like a tremendous undertaking,"
said Kilpatrick.
VDOT
does not typically play a role in the investigative efforts of the
state police unless state police require copies of road plans or other
such documents that VDOT can provide.
Working
Together
Because fire and rescue squads appeared on the scene first and were
the only responding agencies on the scene for the first couple of
hours, their command post at the head of the scene served as a sort
of unified command post for several hours after all agencies began
working together to clear the scene. Typically, fire and rescue officials
turn over the command of the crash scene to state police when the
police arrive.
"We
tried to use our command post as a unified command post, but it was
not particularly unified," Robertson reported. "It was a
long event in duration, so our command was not terminated until about
4 p.m."
Although
there was a lack of a real unified command and some confusion because
of that, the responding agencies worked diligently together to reroute
traffic and to clear the damaged and abandoned vehicles off the road.
At the
scenes of some crashes of less magnitude in surrounding areas, the
roads were not completely cleared for a day and a half. For example,
as the result of a fire, a nearby interstate was not opened to traffic
until the next afternoon.
But the
recovery efforts on I-95 were an impressive success. One lane was
opened to southbound traffic at 8:00 p.m. that evening. All lanes
of I-95 were open by 10 p.m.
"What
made the recovery successful," said Kilpatrick, "was that
fire and rescue, the state police, the towing people, and VDOT have
all been together before on a scene like this, although not to this
magnitude. What really impressed me was that everyone was comfortable
with each other, and that goes a long way to getting the scene cleared
and the roads opened."
Evaluation
and Improvement
On March 20, state and local officials met in Fredericksburg, Va.,
to assess the performance and response to the I-95 crash, to evaluate
the investigation of the crash, and to identify any areas for improvement.
"We've
made a standard procedure for these incidents," Kilpatrick said.
"VDOT sponsors or tries to gather together the responding agencies
to see what went right, what went wrong. This also builds teamwork
among all responding agencies. We've been doing this for a number
of years to improve our response to incidents."
One of
the overriding concerns addressed at the meeting was communication.
Local and state agencies do not have a common communications system,
which caused a number of complications at the scene of this incident.
The complications included the inaccurate reporting to all agencies
of the number of vehicles involved and the delay of VDOT and state
police reporting to the scene.
Another
concern was the lack of a truly unified command post. With a unified
command post, the responding agencies could better understand what
role each agency needed to play, and information could be disseminated
from a central location.
"That
wasn't really used in this incident," said Tom Jennings of the
Federal Highway Administration's Virginia Division. "Having one
command center to issue orders would help with calling tow trucks,
getting VDOT on the scene, even letting agencies know: 'Can we come
up the other side of the freeway? Is that side of the freeway open?'"
Kirkpatrick
explained that a working group has now been established to address
some of these issues, including communications and technology, and
to create some more formalized agreements and procedures among responding
agencies.
"It's
not always the fire sergeant or the lieutenant that shows up on a
scene," Kirkpatrick said. "The working group will make sure
we all understand each other's role so that no matter who the players
are, we still have the same game plan."
Nevertheless,
the agencies agreed that it was an extraordinary effort by all agencies,
state police, fire and rescue, the towing companies, and VDOT, working
together to clear the scene of what is now known as Virginia's worst
highway crash in history.
"Were
there things that we could've done to open the roads faster?"
Kirkpatrick asked. "With weather conditions and a crash of this
scale, no dramatic improvements would've been seen."
Robertson
agrees, "Initially some people were defensive, and there was
some recognition about what things had been dropped, what could've
been done differently. But after some explanation and understanding,
we all agreed that the most amazing thing about this incident was
that the interstate was open at 10 p.m. that same day. It was absolutely
amazing."
Melissa
A. Winn is the assistant editor of Public Roads. She is employed
by Avalon Integrated Services Corp. of Arlington, Va.
Other
Articles in this Issue:
5-1-1: Traffic Help May Soon Be Three Digits Away
Using
the Dynamic Modulus Test to Assess the Mix Strength of HMA
The
ITS Public Safety Program: Creating a Public Safety Coalition
Handling
the Worst Crash Ever in Virginia
Moving
Ahead - The American Public Speaks on Roadways and Transportation
in Communities
Branding America's Byways
Travelers
Seek Byway Experiences
National
Work-Zone Awareness Week Commemorated Across the Nation
Work-Zone
Traffic Control: Survey of Contracting Techniques