Driver recalls traveling on I-95 in Philadelphia before collapse
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- More than 12 hours have passed since part of Interstate 95 collapsed in Northeast Philadelphia.
It happened after a tanker truck caught on fire under an overpass. Gov. Josh Shapiro said during a news conference Sunday it will take "a number of months" to rebuild the highway.
The overpass that collapsed is now a mangled mess of steel and concrete. It fell right onto a flaming tanker truck.
It's been a long day for first responders. Emergency crews were dispatched to the scene around 6 a.m. Sunday and found a tanker burning under I-95.
"My initial reaction was, 'Oh this is a brush fire,'" Mark Fusetti, of Somerton, said.
Fusetti was traveling on I-95 South headed to the airport to pick up his son when he saw thick black smoke billowing all around.
"That's when I grabbed my phone and videoed it and noticed when I drove through I hit a bump," Fusetti said. "Felt like a bump."
On his way back home, his son sitting next to him saw an alert that the I-95 overpass had crumbled and the highway was closed in both directions. Fusetti rewatched his video and again noticed the unusual bump in the road.
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"The bump I'm hitting is the southbound side of 95 that is now buckled," he said. "It felt like going off a curb. That's how low the highway was at the time when I went over."
The tanker was holding 8,500 gallons of gasoline when it caught fire, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.
The flames were so aggressive, the northbound side of the highway above eventually collapsed.
Explosions were then heard in the area.
"It looks like chaos," a person said.
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The scene has now become a spectacle for those who live in the area in the shadow of the interstate.
"I want to know what's going on in my neighborhood," a person said.
Crews were walking in the southbound lanes in the area, surveying the damage.
