Grand Junction, CO : Three people to the hospital after a two-vehicle crash on Tuesday, June 20, 2017

Ambulances on Tuesday afternoon raced three people to the hospital after a two-vehicle crash and fire that charred one vehicle down to the frame near where 27 Road crosses Interstate 70, following a possible head-on crash.

Authorities did not know the conditions of the patients early Tuesday night.

Police radio reports indicated that at least one person was burned in the fire. A person who is an amputee also was reportedly in the crash, according to radio traffic. A wheelchair was visible on the interstate as fire, police and emergency personnel responded to the chaotic scene. Animal control officers also were called to the scene for a dog in one of the vehicles, according to police radio traffic.

The crash caused a brush fire that raced uphill on the interstate’s south side, burning about a quarter-mile along fence lines and close to homes.

Traffic was stalled temporarily in the westbound lane and stalled for hours heading eastbound between Exit 19 and the Horizon Drive exit after the crash just before 3 p.m.

Grand Junction residents Taylor Plunkett and Darrell Harrison were nearly stuck in eastbound traffic on the interstate when they saw a plume of smoke ahead, and the two watched emergency fire vehicles push through traffic to get to the scene. The two drove to 27 Road to view the scene near the overpass.

“We got out into the interstate and saw a big ol’ flame and a bunch of smoke” Plunkett said.

“It’s definitely not good,” Harrison added. “I hope everybody’s OK. That was a pretty gnarly fire.”

In the eastbound lane, a sedan faced north in the middle median and the burned-up vehicle faced south following the crash.

Residents who live along the stretch of interstate retrieved garden hoses and began watering yards and trees as a brush fire tore up the slopes toward homes.

Michael Gallegos was driving home from work when his wife texted him that the fence in their backyard was burning down.

“...The neighbor ran up to the door and said the hill was on fire, and flames were way up above our trees,” Gallegos said. “My wife got our kids and dog in the car and got in the front driveway.”

Their home in the 700 block of Continental Court near 27 Road backs up to the south side of the interstate. Gallegos said about 100 to 150 feet, or about three-quarters of his wooden fence, burned after the brush fire rushed uphill from the interstate below. He was busy hosing down the yard and trees hours after the fire, early Tuesday night.

“It’s been so hot and dry when the vehicle started on fire it burned up brush,” he said. “We have a lot of repairs to make.”

Source :
Eastbound I-70 snarled for hours in aftermath of two-vehicle accident