Fellure said there were no brake marks on I-675 where the vehicle went over the guardrail. He estimated the truck was going at least 55 or 60 mph.
The driver’s name had not been released by the state patrol as of late Thursday. The truck had a Maine license plate.
Greene County sheriff’s Deputy Franklin Hill was traveling on Ohio 444 at the time of the accident.
He said he heard a scraping sound, turned his head to see where the sound was coming from and witnessed the tractor-trailer crashing.
“I saw it go off the bridge, land, crash and burst into flames,” Hill said. “Nobody could have done anything. It was engulfed in flames. It was way too hot to get to.”
Troopers from the Xenia Post of the Ohio Highway Patrol, Greene County sheriff’s deputies, Fairborn police and fire officials, a Wright-Patterson Air Force Base foam truck and other departments responded to the scene after a 10:51 a.m. call.
I-675 was fully reopened by 4:30 p.m., when Ohio 444 was being cleared up and the charred truck was loaded onto a flatbed truck.
Safety personnel noted a lot of diesel gas in the area and it wasn’t until around 1 p.m. that hazardous materials crews gave the OK for the troopers, firefighters and the coroner to start investigating.
“I felt a bunch of debris hit my (car’s) right side and blew out my right window, glass everywhere,” motorist Ned Clark said . “And then the noise was just outrageous and I wondered what I was going to get hit with … It looked like an airplane crash.”
Representatives from the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency and members of the Dayton area HAZMAT team also were called to the scene.
Staff writer Kelli Wynn contributed to this report.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-6951 or mgokavi@DaytonDailyNews.com.
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