Tanker explosion and fire on Interstate 45 Overpass at Spring/Cypress exit onto FM1960. A tanker truck carrying 2500 gallons of fuel caught fire as well as three other cars, killing three and injuring three. A total of eight cars plus the tanker were in the accident closing the freeway from 9:20a.m to after 6p.m. The freeway overpass was checked for structual damage before reopening.
Four Woodland's teens, on their way to Galveston Island for Spring Break, were hit by a Tanker and two were killed. The 18 Wheeler, carrying 2500 gallons of gasoline, hit the meridian on I-45 going North. After a tire blew on the Tanker, it flipped over the meridian wall several times, and crashed into Abby Dewee's car. She and Amy Friedrich were struck by the Tanker and their car flew over the car behind them, which was carrying Nicoline Scheliski and Brooke Houser.
The impact created a combustible energy which caused the car to lift off the ground (like a jet propulsion) and lifted Amy's and Abby's car up and over Brooke and Nicoline's car. When the car landed, it struck another car, meanwhile the Tanker Truck was jack-knifing, on its side, sliding, hitting cars and turning over before exploding.
Brooke Houser (the second car's driver) found Abby in her car, gasping for air, unaware Abby's neck had been broken. Amy's purse was found intact, and given to her father. Abby's purse was never found as it is believed to have burned in the fire. The four girls were in separate cars because Abby and Amy were staying in Galveston for only a day and Brooke and Nicoline were prepared to holiday for four days of Spring Break.
None of the teens were drinking and driving. Nor were any drug users. "They were doing nothing wrong, nor were they in the wrong place at the wrong time. There was nothing either of them could do, nor that any of us or their parents could do to have protected them or changed the course of events", said their Pastor Steve Bradley(Woodlands Parkway Baptist Church) at the Memorial on Saturday, March 20, 1999 at The Woodlands High School. Approximately 2000 people attended the memorial.
The Memorial Service was a True Celebration of both of the girl's lives. Photos of them were flashed on large Video/ Television Screens. The "Charismatic Service" was Music Oriented with a Prelude by the Fellowship of The Woodlands Emsemble. A Trumpet Solo was performed by Amy's cousin, David Amundson. The Sandi Patti song, "Because of Who You Are", was sung by Abbie's friend, Amanda Perry, Miss Houston'99. The Invocatin and Eulogy was by student Pastor, Chris Ryan, and his words were directed to the thousands of high school teens attending. Testimonies were by Eleanor Rosaire and Tara Northcutt, friends of Amy and Abbie.
Upon the close of the Memorial Service, hundreds of brightly, colored balloons were released into the sky as the funeral cars pulled away, carrying Amy and Abbie and their families to a private buriel.
Counselors were provided, on the spot, for the high school students to go in and talk to if they so wished at that time. Hundreds of students milled about, consoling each other and just standing numb, as Channel Two, Channel 11 and Channel 13 and the local newspaper reporters covered the scene.
The previous Friday night, Open Casket Visitation was offered for family and friends and Woodlands High School Students. Forest Park The Woodlands Funeral Home has a perpetual Living Tribute for Abbie and Amy.
All four girls were 17 and students at Woodlands High School in Woodlands, Texas. They were part of a larger group of teens headed to Galveston Island for Spring Break. The rest of the group continued on to Galveston unaware that the last part of the caravan was in a tragic car accident.
According to Nicoline Schelski, Miss Teen River Oaks '99, she and driver Brooke Houser had been the lead car, with Abby following them. "Somehow, they got in front of us, and we were then following them." Driver Brooke Houser is suffering guilt and remorse, feeling it should have been her killed in the crash, as she was suppose to be the lead car.
When the Tanker came across the freeway, Nicoline said, "I saw Abby's car fly over our car and then we were hit. When we came to a stop, I got out and looked for Abby and Amy's Car. I could not recognize it. Then I saw it with no roof at all. I could not see the girls and looked for them. I could not find the girls. Then the explosion happened and the car blew up! We later found the girl's heads buried in the dash board."
Another driver tried to save the trapped girls. He was spraying the girls with a fire extinguisher, hoping to protect them until the ambulance got there, but then the car exploded into a fireball.
Abby Dewees had recently won the title of Miss Teen Woodlands and was trilled to be competing at Miss Teen Texas in July. She was a determined and wonderful girl who never gave up her hope of winning a title and competing at Miss Teen Texas. She was always nice to the other girls and was a girl who enjoyed working for her goals. She was very proud to represent the Woodlands and would have continued on in the Miss Texas Pageant System to compete as a Miss in future years for the respected title of Miss Texas.
Amy Friedrich, was a classmate of the three girls, and was well loved and respected by her friends and teachers. She and Abby were best of friends and had been most of their young lives. Amy was Coach of the Soft Ball Team. She was supportive of Abby's Pageants and Abby was supportive of Amy's Skiing Adventures and Sports Involvement.
Brook Houser is Nicoline Schelski's best friend and was injured from glass imbedded in her face and neck and over her body. She is healing nicely on the outside and was at the Memorial Service. The internal grief is longer to heal. When Brook saw the fireball up ahead exploding, she was in the far left lane on I-45 South. She drove into the rail area, with the left side of her car leaning on the guard rail as she tried to avoid the accident. If Brook had driven into the right lane, she and Nicoline would have been killed. Providence seemed to be guiding her. One officer on the scene remarked to the Schelski family that it was like a glass bubble was over Brooke and Nicoline's car. If Brooke had shifted the car to the right lane, they would have been hit by three cars and exploded in flames also.
Nicoline Schelski won Miss Teen River Oaks in December and was looking forward to the Spring Break and time to enjoy her friends. She suffered a bloody nose and lots of cuts and scratches. She is released from the hospital and will still be able to compete at Miss Teen Texas as she buried her head in the air bag. Brooke was hit in the face by the airbag, which comes out about 250 miles an hour and is a shocking Hit To The Face. Airbags also give off a mist in the air of charcoal dust. Both girls experienced soreness in throat and caughing from the airbags. This is a common complaint of airbag victime. Swelling and bruises are commong with airbags also.
Eight cars were involved besides the Tanker which burned. A 40 yr. old Conroe man was also killed who was innocently in the path of the cars and tanker. He was married and the father of two. Traffic was tied up on the freeway all day. Accident happened at 9:20a.m. Freeway was cleared around 6 p.m. The 2500 gallons of gasoline were covering cars, road and overpass at Spring/Cypress exit off of I-45.
...More to come on this story as it develops...
Original Chronicle Story which ran: March 16, 1999, 09:41 p.m.
3 killed in fiery accident
Truck crushes 2 cars, shutting down I-45
By S.K. BARDWELL Copyright 1999 Houston Chronicle
Three people died and three were injured Tuesday when a small tanker truck drove across a North Freeway retaining wall into oncoming traffic, flattening two cars and exploding in flames.
The crash, described by one witness as "hellish," occurred at 9:40 a.m. over Spring Stuebner Road in north Harris County.
The truck was carrying 2,500 gallons of fuel, said Karen Moore, chief deputy for the Precinct 4 Constable's Office.
Witnesses said the northbound tanker hit the outside guardrail, then swerved across the freeway to the inside rail.
The truck's right front tire was blown out, but investigators said it was unclear whether that caused the truck to hit the rail or was a result.
The name of the driver, who was transporting fuel for U.S. Fleet Services of Horsham, Pa., has not been released.
Precinct 4 Chief Ron Hickman said the truck veered into the inside railing dividing the freeway and rolled over it, smashing into two southbound cars, killing two people instantly.
Five more southbound vehicles slammed into the wreckage, and Hickman said fuel from the tanker poured everywhere. As the truck driver and others scrambled from the wreckage, the fuel ignited in a huge fireball.
"I just ran," said Mary Mattern, 18, whose small car struck the truck in the southbound lanes and was then hit by another vehicle.
"I couldn't breathe," she said. "There was smoke and fire everywhere. I just jumped out and ran down the freeway."
"I was lucky," said pickup driver Donnie Walsh. "I saw it all in my rearview mirror.
"I saw the truck veering in the other lanes and it came over the wall just after I passed. I couldn't believe the noise, and then the fireball. I nearly wrecked anyway."
Walsh said he turned around and drove the wrong way to see if he could help. As he neared the wreckage, he saw two cars almost completely flattened under the burning tanker.
"It was hellish," he said. "It was way too hot to get any closer, and I knew there was no way anyone had had time to get out of those cars."
The fire, smoke and two smaller explosions after the initial blast prompted people in cars stalled behind the wreck to leap out and run down the grassy sides of the overpass to safety.
Traffic backed up in both directions, and fire and rescue workers had to approach the scene by driving the wrong way down the freeway.
Trains on the tracks below the bridge were stopped as workers hosed down the fuel and debris from the fire.
Two of the victims were dead at the scene, while the third died shortly after arrival by Life Flight helicopter at Hermann Hospital.
Two of the three injured were women treated at Houston Northwest Medical Center and released, hospital personnel said, while the third one, a man, remained in fair condition Tuesday afternoon.
The victims' identities were not released Tuesday evening.
Once the Cypress Creek Volunteer Fire Department had extinguished the flames, workers began moving the wrecked and burned vehicles, and Texas Department of Transportation inspectors checked the overpass for damage.
By Tuesday afternoon, the freeway's northbound outside lane had been opened to traffic. Department of Transportation officials said the outside southbound lane would be opened late Tuesday.
Both inside lanes were to remain closed through the night, but officials said repairs to the median should be complete by morning rush hour today.
When the Hardy Toll Road became the obvious detour route, many motorists were furious they had to pay the $1 toll.
Part of the anger was being "forced" to pay for highway travel, and part was over the hourlong backup at the toll booths, said Bob Robin of Lake Charles, La., driving from Dallas to Pasadena.
"They could have just opened up and let us through," he fumed.
Patricia Watson, a spokeswoman for the Harris County Toll Road Authority, said her agency decided that motorists weren't being forced onto the toll road, because other routes were available through Old Town Spring.
When those routes closed temporarily, she said, the authority did suspend toll collection and the milelong backup disappeared in 15 minutes.
"The backup wasn't the collecting of tolls," Watson said. "It was those who were stopping and arguing" about it.
Toll collectors were instructed to let anyone through who didn't have the dollar, she said.
Watson said the policy is to open the toll road for free only during a declared emergency, such as hurricane evacuation.
Responding to commercial truck accidents, Houston Police Chief Clarence Bradford said Tuesday he is considering recommending rerouting trucks whose final destination is not Houston.
"We do not want to unreasonably delay trucks, but we can reroute those merely passing through Houston," Bradford said.
Once analyzed, he said, the recommendation may be forwarded to City Council.
Chronicle reporters Dan Feldstein and Jo Ann Zuniga and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Update:Houston Chronicle Report on Truck Driver's Blood Test.... March 17, 1999, 09:47 p.m.
Trucker's blood-test results sought
By S.K. BARDWELL Copyright 1999 Houston Chronicle
Investigators today will begin seeking a grand jury subpoena for the results of blood tests conducted on the driver of the tanker truck that precipitated the North Freeway accident that killed three Montgomery County residents.
The victims were two Woodlands High School juniors, best friends on their way to Galveston for spring break, and a Conroe man driving to work in Houston.
The students, Amy Lynn Friederichs and Abigail "Abby" Dewees, both 17, became friends about three years ago when Friederichs and her family moved to The Woodlands from Orlando, Fla., said Amy's father, John.
"Amy was very outgoing, very personable and a good student who liked softball and was coaching a softball team," said her father, vice president and general manager of a printing company.
"She would have loved to get into (the University of Texas). It was sort of her dream school."
Linda Casci, student council sponsor at Woodlands High, said both girls were outgoing and energetic and possessed leadership qualities.
"They were in their second year on student council and had applied for the executive council, which means they wanted to take on leadership positions on student council. They were hard workers."
Dewees was crowned Miss Teen Woodlands in a beauty pageant this year. "She was very excited about that, but very modest about it, too," Casci said.
Friederichs' father said the two families have been in contact about funeral arrangements, which remained incomplete.
The other victim, Dennis Wayne Duke, 47, lived with his wife and 6-year-old daughter in an apartment in Conroe, said a friend who asked not to be identified.
The friend described Duke, whose funeral will be in Garland where he has relatives, as "a devoted family man" well-known and liked by neighbors.
Investigators were still taking statements Wednesday from witnesses, said Karen Moore, chief deputy for the Harris County Precinct 4 Constable's Office.
She said eight statements have been taken from witnesses and drivers, but investigators have yet to interview the truck driver, Mark Anthony Zweifel, 30, of New Caney. He remained in fair condition at Houston Northwest Medical Center.
Moore said investigators have been told that Zweifel may remain in the hospital for some days and that his attorney wants to be present during his questioning.
Zweifel was driving for U.S. Fleet Services of Horsham, Pa., when his small northbound tanker, loaded with 2,500 gallons of fuel, struck the outside guardrail on Interstate 45 over Spring-Stuebner Road in north Harris County, witnesses told investigators.
Witnesses said that impact blew out the truck's right front tire, sending it veering across the freeway. The truck struck the divider rail and rolled over it into oncoming traffic, crushing two cars and spilling fuel on the highway.
As the spilled fuel ignited, more cars slammed into the wreckage. The fire destroyed tires and other evidence, making the investigation even more difficult, Moore said.
Two other people who were taken to Houston Northwest after the crash were released Wednesday, hospital personnel said.
Sheriff's deputies said such accidents could be made a little easier to investigate by Senate Bill 162, which is on the legislative agendas of Harris and Dallas counties and the Sheriff's Association of Texas.
The bill, sponsored by state Sen. John Corona of Dallas, would allow law enforcement officers to obtain certification to inspect commercial motor vehicles for compliance with Texas Department of Transportation safety standards. A hearing on the bill has not yet been scheduled.
Chronicle reporter Paul McKay contributed to this story.
