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Interstate 4 Disaster

Accident On I-4 | Comment | Photos | Map | Traffic Updates


A War Zone


Douglas Galliher, 65, of Auburndale, came by Fantasy of Flight to take pictures for his boss. Investigators are keeping cars involved in Wednesday’s horrific Interstate 4 crash at the attraction.

Galliher is a tow truck operator for Webb’s Towing in Lakeland.

“It looked like a war zone.  A lot of cars were tore up.  It was amazing, absolutely amazing, more people didn’t get killed.  It was such intense fire it melted the asphalt.”

Galliher described how the crews used recovery machinery such as forklifts to move wreckage. 

They found a car buried beneath an overturned rock truck.

“While scraping up debris, we come upon a car.  It was so burned, it melted the license plate off.”

Rescuers put the remains of a driver in a body bag, Galliher said. 

“It tore me up.  I broke down yesterday.  I was already upset real bad.”



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About The Pileup:


        Smoke from a brush fire mixed with early morning fog was blamed for a pileup of at least 70 vehicles in Polk County, which Sheriff Grady Judd called "the worst you’ve ever seen."
        At least four people were killed and at least 38 were injured, many of them seriously.
        About 20 of the vehicles involved were tractor-trailer rigs and tankers, and at least one caught fire, sparking a blaze that spread to at least a dozen other vehicles.
        Up to 100 people were involved, Judd said.
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