GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — As the fire from a multi-vehicle crash raged on I-85 Saturday morning, police could be seen encouraging people to abandon their cars and jump over the median wall from Interstate 85 onto the access road.
As they jumped over the wall, officers could be heard getting people to move away from the roadway as fire and other emergency equipment was moving down the access road toward the fire.
Motorists were asked to evacuate their vehicles as fuel floating underground caused explosions, with smoke and fire rising from manholes.
"Drivers that were between the accident and where traffic was being diverted were all evacuated out of their vehicles. The reason for this is because when this truck fire exploded the way it did, it began to spread into the sewer drain," said Gwinnett Police Officer Jacob Albright.
One motorist who saw the fire as he was on his way to work, Stephen Paul, spoke with 11Alive News.
"I saw three different smoke plumes. To be honest, it looked like a fuel truck exploded," Paul said. "Some of the fuel may have dumped into the drains. I could see some flames coming from one storm drain."
Gwinnett Police continued to work to move people away from the immediate vicinity of the crash itself.
"They've moved us quite a distance away from the crash itself," he said.
In addition to moving the motorists away, a number of businesses in the immediate vicinity of the crash, mostly along Dawson Boulevard and Crescent Drive, were evacuated.
Two people were killed in the crash.
