Drivers share fault in I-4 pileup that killed 5 last year

BRANDON — A state highway investigation into last year's colossal crash on Interstate 4 found that fog and smoke from an out-of-control wildfire contributed to the wrecks, but that careless drivers played a large role in the fatal chain reaction.

Five people were killed, including two from Tampa, in a 70-vehicle pileup on the heavily shrouded highway in Polk County the morning of Jan. 9, 2008. The string of wrecks also injured 38 people and closed a 14-mile stretch of Central Florida's main east-west highway for more than a day.

Concluding its yearlong investigation with a 53-page report, the Highway Patrol called poor visibility an attendant circumstance but noted that many motorists that day reduced speed and made controlled stops.

"Those vehicles that were able to stop were then involved in this crash due to the careless driving of others," the Highway Patrol reported.

Crash victims blamed state employees with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission who had set a 10-acre controlled burn on the Hilochee Wildlife Management Area on Jan. 8 after checking weather reports from the Division of Forestry and the National Weather Service.

Those weather predictions said the humidity in the area would remain above 60 percent.

However, about 45 minutes after the controlled burn started, the humidity plunged below 30 percent, the wind picked up and the fire became a 500-acre wildfire that continued burning into the next day.

The wildfire's smoke mingled with early-morning fog.

An initial investigation by the state Division of Forestry conducted a month after the wrecks found no evidence of criminal violations or gross negligence on the part of state workers who started the fire.

At the time, Agriculture Commissioner Charles Bronson questioned whether the smoke from the fire played any role in the crashes.

But the latest report by the Highway Patrol noted numerous times that "visibility was severely reduced due to fog and smoke in that area." It found that the actions of drivers, including several of those who died, "and the environmental factors due to the fog and smoke all contributed to this crash."

A spokesman with the wildlife commission declined to comment, citing ongoing litigation in the case.

A Bartow attorney representing several clients could not immediately be reached for comment.

Saundra Amrhein can be reached at amrhein@sptimes.com or (813) 661-2441.