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Nov. 16--BERRIEN SPRINGS -- A chain reaction crash involving 10 vehicles on the U.S. 31 freeway Tuesday morning occurred in a dense mix of fog and smoke that reduced visibility to 15 feet, according to police.
Early news reports Tuesday said 17 to 19 vehicles were involved, but a state police news release listed the smaller number.
Heavy rolls of steel were thrown from a semitrailer but a tanker truck carrying 13,000 gallons of gasoline lost none of its load in the collision. Nobody was killed, state police said. Two people, Jeffrey Vandenberg and Roger Wyckoff, were treated at area hospitals for minor injuries, police said. Vandenberg is from Niles, and information about where Wyckoff is from was not available from police.
"We lucked out big time that there were no serious injuries out there," said Rick Smiedendorf, deputy chief of the Berrien Springs-Oronoko Township Police Department. His department and the Berrien County Sheriff's Department assisted state police.
The crash in the northbound lanes of U.S. 31 just north of the M-139 interchange took place just before 8:19 a.m., according to dispatchers, closing a section of the freeway for several hours.
Drivers involved in the crash reported suddenly encountering a wall of fog that all but eliminated visibility. Firefighters said some motorists were slowing down when their vehicles were struck.
State police said George Madden of Lawton was driving a Freightliner gas tanker north on U.S. 31 when he slowed due to the fog. His vehicle was struck from behind by a semitrailer driven by Wyckoff, police said. Vandenberg, driving a GMC work van, struck Wyckoff's truck from behind, police said. Vandenberg's van rolled onto the driver's side. Vandenburg declined medical treatment at the scene but was later treated at South Bend Memorial Hospital, police said. Wyckoff was taken by Medic 1 ambulance to Lakeland Regional Medical Center in St. Joseph, where he was treated and released.
Police said that besides two semis and the work van, seven other vehicles were involved in the crash.
Smiedendorf said patchy morning fog mixed with smoke from a house fire on Valley View Drive, about a mile away, and settled across a section of the freeway.
Conditions were sunny at Exit 15A at M-139, the officer said, but a short distance north at Exit 15B "you could barely make out the lights.
"People were driving too fast and not reacting quick enough when they got into the fog," Smiedendorf said. "Speed had to be a factor."
State police from the Niles post investigated the crash.
Fire departments from Berrien Springs-Oronoko Township, Sodus, Eau Claire-Berrien-Pipestone, and Niles Township responded to the call. In addition to Berrien Springs and state police, Berrien County sheriff's deputies assisted at the scene and in traffic control.
Northbound U.S. 31 traffic was routed onto M-139 until 12:54 p.m. when one lane opened, according to the Berrien County 911 dispatch center. Both lanes were cleared and open at 1:31 p.m.
Smiedendorf said the crash came while the Berrien Springs police and fire departments were at the scene of a house fire involving a fatality. The fire was reported around 6:30 a.m.
"Having two major events going on at the same time totally taxed our resources," he said.
But assistance from other agencies arrived quickly and there was no hesitation in taking on the tasks that needed to be done, Smiedendorf said.
"A lot of things we've been taught since 9/11 having to do with emergency scene management, from my point of view worked very well," he said. "We don't live for these moments but when it happens the training kicks in."
Dave Metz, a driver for Hasse's Crane Service, Benton Harbor, said the company used a 60-ton capacity crane and five wreckers at the scene.
Three steel coils -- two weighing 35,000 pounds each and one 24,000 pounds -- came off a semitrailer owned by Area Transportation Co., Metz said. An empty semi owned by the same company happened to be going through and was loaded with the steel.
Metz said two coils went into the freeway median and one stayed next to the truck. Had the coils gone to the other side of the semi, he said, they could have caused significant damage to other vehicles.
