LOCAL

U.S. 23 reopened after Marion woman killed in fiery semi crash

Marion Star

MARION — The Ohio State Highway Patrol was forced to close a section of U.S. 23 in Marion County after a fatal crash involving a semi occurred early Wednesday morning.

A 1999 Honda CRV was traveling east on Bethlehem Road, didn't stop at the stop sign and collided with a semi at roughly 4 a.m. Wednesday, said Highway Patrol Lt. Lance Shearer.

The driver of the Honda, Rachel Sullivan, 28, of Marion, was pronounced dead at the scene. The driver of the Volvo tractor trailer, Franklin Garcia, 24, of Miami Beach, Florida, was not injured as a result of the crash.

State workers examine the wreckage on U.S. 23 after a semi and car were engulfed in flames from an early Wednesday crash.

The car, which was caught under the semi trailer, caught fire, Shearer said. The semi truck driver had tried unsuccessfully to use his fire extinguisher to put the fire out, Shearer said.

By the time firefighters arrived on scene, the car and the semi trailer were fully engulfed in flames, Shearer said. The semi truck driver had detached the cab of the semi from the trailer, he said.

According to dispatch records, the first emergency responders on scene were with Pleasant Township Fire Department and arrived about 4:16 a.m., about 10 minutes after the call came in to Central Dispatch. The records are not clear about whether it was a fire engine or a squad that arrived on scene first. Other emergency responders were dispatched and arrived later.

The semi trailer, which had been hauling 34,000 pounds of frozen foods, was destroyed in the fire, according to Shearer. Parts of the trailer had been burned through, and burnt boxes of frozen chicken nuggets and patties littered the interstate at the scene.

Clean-up crews were still on scene through the morning cleaning the debris off the road. The interstate was closed most of the morning at Bethlehem Road, just north of Waldo, and reopened just before noon.

A crash involving a semi truck on U.S. 23 at Bethlehem Road shut down the interstate for most of the morning Wednesday. A Marion woman died in the crash after her car collided with the semi, got caught under its trailer and caught on fire.

The Ohio Department of Transportation was on scene and inspected the road to make sure it is safe to reopen, Shearer said.

Among the agencies responding were the Fort Morrow Fire District, the Pleasant Township Fire Department, the Marion Township Fire Department and the Marion County Sheriff's Office.

svolpenhei@gannett.com

740-375-5155

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