Mesquite, Texas: Westbound I-30 Closed After Car Hits Fire Blocker Truck at Northwest Drive

MESQUITE, Texas (Orbit Post) Westbound Interstate 30 in Mesquite shut down early Friday after a car struck a Mesquite Fire Department blocker truck that had been placed in the lanes to shield crews working an earlier crash, Mesquite police said.

The first crash happened on westbound I-30 at Northwest Drive at about 2:30 a.m. on Friday, November 6, according to Mesquite police. The Mesquite Fire Department said crews were assisting with a crash that caused no injuries when the second collision happened, CBS News Texas reported.

A shield for the crew

Emergency crews positioned a retired fire engine that the department now uses as a blocker truck, FOX 4 reported. A blocker truck is a heavy vehicle parked behind a crash scene so firefighters and their equipment work behind a physical barrier instead of in open lanes. The department keeps the retired engine in service for road work so that a vehicle that fails to move over hits the truck first, not the crew on foot. Blocker trucks are standard equipment for fire departments that work freeway crashes, where stopped crews face traffic passing at highway speed.

At about 3 a.m., a sports car hit the blocker truck. Paramedics took the driver of the sports car to a hospital with injuries that were not life threatening. No police officers or firefighters were injured in the collision, FOX 4 reported.

Westbound lanes closed

The two crashes forced authorities to shut down the westbound lanes of I-30 at Northwest Drive. WFAA reported the westbound lanes closed near Northwest Drive after the car crashed into the Mesquite fire truck. CBS News Texas reported traffic stalled on I-30 near Mesquite after the multi vehicle crash involving the fire department blocker truck.

As of 5 a.m., the closure had caused a solid stack up of traffic stretching beyond the Broadway Boulevard and Belt Line Road interchange, and the backup was continuing to build toward the President George Bush Turnpike, FOX 4 reported.

Mesquite sits in eastern Dallas County, and westbound I-30 carries the Friday morning commute from Mesquite and the eastern suburbs toward downtown Dallas. Police did not release the name of the driver taken to the hospital, and they did not say what caused either crash in the first reports on Friday morning. Crews stayed at the Northwest Drive scene while both crashes were cleared and investigated.