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Fire's Destruction Ravages Scene, Survivors

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By LINDSAY PETERSON and RAY REYES, The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 12, 2008

Updated: 01/12/2008 12:34 am

A Florida Highway Patrol report released Friday offered a glimpse of the devastating prevalence of fire in the chain-reaction crashes Wednesday on Interstate 4.

Of 43 damaged vehicles on the troopers' list, 13 were burned, including the four whose drivers were killed: a Ford Mustang, a Lincoln Continental, a Freightliner box truck and an International tractor-trailer.

Only one of the four people who died has been identified, Darren Scott Snyder of Auburndale, who was driving the Mustang.

Polk County Medical Examiner Steven Nelson said that so little remained of the victims that he could not even predict when identifications of the others would be available.

A total of 70 vehicles were involved in the crashes that began about 4:35 a.m. on a stretch of I-4 that was suddenly blotted out in a blinding fog.

Nearly 40 people were injured.

In addition to the cars and trucks that were burned, 20 were heavily damaged, said Friday's report.

Troopers have yet to interview all of the people involved.

"I was right beside all the fires," said Nancy Sadler, 67, of Lakeland, who stopped suddenly after she drove into the wall of smoke and fog. The troopers' list shows that her Toyota 4Runner was moderately damaged in the chain-reaction crashes, but cars and trucks around her were in flames, she said.

"Whoever was in the car in front of me was burning up," she said. She got out to help and heard the man inside screaming, but the fire's heat kept her from getting close enough to reach him.

She can't sleep now, she said. When she got home, the smell of smoke was in her hair and clothes, and it was still with her Friday.

Malcolm Houston, 47, of Tampa was on his way to Daytona Beach on a routine trip for his company, R&L Metals, when a message from another driver squawked over his CB radio.

"The way he said, 'Be very careful,' it grabbed you," Houston said.

Minutes later, the taillights of a vehicle in front of him vanished in the fog and smoke. Houston slammed on his brakes and narrowly avoided hitting the vehicle in front of him. his Kenworth dump truck took heavy damage as vehicles crashed into him and pushed him into others.

Houston called 911, though he does not remember it. He does recall grabbing the microphone of his CB radio and yelling "Stop" over and over and over.

"I guess I yelled so many times that another driver told me, 'Shut up, shut up! Stop yelling stop!'"

Days after the accident, Houston said there is one thing that haunts him.

"There were people who had loved ones that got up that morning on a regular routine, kissed them and said they'd see them that evening," he said. "And now, they won't see them again. Life is so precious."

Reporter Phil Morgan contributed to this report. Reporter Lindsay Peterson can be reached at (813) 259-7834 or lpeterson@tampatrib.com

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