Oakland Tribune from Oakland, California • 47

1 1 '-'rf Kv T' i straws By llm Lopez Trttww Stall Writer June.MacKay Rutledge had flown to Canon City. to see her son Steve act In a- stage performance. Lee Metzker of Sacramento, who drives trucks for a 'living. He was headed to Oakland in a tanker loaded wMjh 8,800 gallons of ga Paul Petfosljeran Alameda-carpenter, was listening jp the Larry King show on KSFtf radio -as he trailed the vehicles into the tunnel in his pickup truck, on his way home from a friends house in Walnut Creek. Not far behind were George and Katherine Lena, 'an' elderly San Francisco couple heading home in their Pontiac' Phoenix after visiting friends in Pittsburg.

Also in the tunnel were. Mil-brae psychologist Gary Peterson, his wife Lynn, and 8-year-old driving a beer truck, and his pas-daughter Anne, They were In a senger, Melvin' Edward 'Young, Ford station returning from Granada HillsL. from a relatives wedding anni- Metzker, Rutledge, Pe-versary party in Danville. troelje and the Petersons sur-These people shared nothing vived. the tunnel, apparently to keep more motorists from entering it.

I could see flames and a thick, dark cloud of smoke moving toward my truck as I started to back up. sald PetroelJe, a thin man with a full beard, warm blue-gray eyes and wire-rim glasses. It was craning pretty fast and as I sawjsteve again when' he was headed, back toward the Oakland side, I told him we better get out Petroelje said be stopped his truck because the smoke got so thick he couldnt see where he was He got out and staggered toward Orinda, feeling his way by gliding his hand along the of the' tunnel: I felt that if I three more breaths of -smoke, I wouldnt make it, said, his face still a chalky gray from the acrid smoke, Moments after he got' out pf the -tunnel, Rutledge followed -He looked like a coal miner and I guess I looked the same to him, Petroelje said The tiles were crashing from the -ceiling and there was so much heat we just knew nobody could make it Steve said he hgd seen seven or eight people stilfin there, but we knew weoeuldnt try gbing hack in. The twd.weredriving back to her Piedmont home and were only a few miles away as they entered the Caldecott Tunnel shortly after midnight Wednesday In Steve's Ford pickup truck. 1 Just ahead of them was John Dykes of Oakland, who had driven AC Transit -buses for five yean and was finishing up his route in central Contra Costa County.

Dykes was headed hack the Emeryville bus garage. Alongside Dykes was Mervyn but the same direction as they entered, the tunnel. Moments later, they-shared a harrowing look at death and a Metzker ran out of the tunnel to the Oakland exit before his tanker blew up. Rutledge, who was directly behind. the tanker frantic strugglejjor survival as truck, pulled to a halt at a tunnel the bus and tanker, truck collided and the tunnel became a tubular furnace.

For some, the Caldecott became a tomb. The dead include Dykes; dune Rutledge, the Lena couple; Jan- call bos after-the. collision and told his mother to phone for help while hie ran back toward- the Orinda side to tell motorists to Peterson tried to use his CB ice Marie Ferris, a San Leandro radio to call for help, and the nt driving 4 Honda; Evec- Lenses turned their 'car almost JKidney. a Sepulveda man sideways near the entrance to. resident ett MKi See PEOPLE, Page E-2 re ear (Oakland tribune Thursday, April 8:1982 63S6S useban fc rt By Kathy CTToote and Frank Wootten I Wednesday's tunnel accident at 12:15 a.m We could bavelost a couple hundred lives, Tunnels, crowded or narrow alleys and bridges -are more dangerous than open highways because it is difficult for people to.

escape fumes and fire, Spivey said If (the California Department of. Transportation) specifically banned hazardous' materials from, the state highway patrol could.enforce it, Spivey said. '''As it is; Uie in this state and many others have fragmented enforcement of haz- ardous material regulations so that no agency has overall responsibility. 7 The federal regulation usually 1 is applied only after an accident, if lawsuits; are filed in federal court agaidst the hauler, Spivey TUNNEL OF DEATH This Condensed drawing shows where chaired vehicles and bodies were found in relation to the gasoline tank truck that exploded jnto flames inside the Caldecott Tunnel Seven persons perished in the early morning hours Wednesday. Wednesdays accident, said he knew of nothing illegal about going through a Similarly, a Chevron' U.S.A.

transportation manager and sev-, eral California Highway Patrol officials said Wednesday they were unaware of any restrictions regarding hazardous 'material shipments through tunnels. have as much truck traffic as Highways 4 and IT and Interstate 80. Tanker truck drivers generally avoid the tunnel traffic coqjes-tion and the hills because if slows them down, -said John Heilman, a hazardous materials, hauling specialist with the states trucking, association. It repre- there is a little-known federal highway regulation that bars hides carrying large amounts of hazardous, materials- from using tunnels, but a loophole in the law-makes it almost unenforceable, a Federal Highway Administration official said Wednesday. Since a 1949 accident in New York Citys Holland tunnel, federal highway safety regulations have banned gasoline tankers and other vehicles carrying hazV ardous materials from using tuiK, nels unless there is practice- alternative But, accordingto John Spivey the' highway -agencys western regional manager of hazardous materials, the clause exempting haulers when there is no alternate route renders the regulation useless as a prevention tool unless there is an enforced local or-state restriction.

1 Local ordinances ban hazard- ous cargoes from the underwater Alameda-Oakland Posey Tube, and from the. Lincoln and Hoi- land tunnels in New York City. And on Wednesday, Costa. County Supervisor Nancy Fahden said she will seek a local or state ban on trucks carrying hazardous materials through the Caldecott Tunnel. this occurred at 8 a.m.

or 8 p.m.," Fahden of said. haz-' sent 5,000 tracking companies. They prefer to go. from the mere are tanaers wiui deeding such a case, a ardous material placards coming judge can consider routes other through. herd all the time said There are tankers with years and has never had 4' fatal accident because there is less human handling with pipelines, said pipeline supervisor Dave But pipelines are too expensive to use unless the company is moving large quantities of fuel Southern Pacific officials said.

State highway officials hope a new state law, effective July 1, will help consolidate what Spivey described as fragmented regulation of hazardous materials. The new law. will put the CHP in charge of an annual inspection and licensing program for all hazardous material haulers. Every CHP officer- will be trained in hazardous materials safety, and new inspection will be hired. The program is to be financed through a new state tax on hazardous materials.

Now, the state fire marshals office with a much dmaller staff, is in charge of tanker safety certification while CHP Inspects tracks for safe -and other driving In some communities, local restrictions are- more slrlhgeht than state or federal laws.T-1 Oakland, tat example, bap? jail large trucks from its portioned Interstate 580, and Walnut Creek bans gasoline deliveries 'ib local stations on busy streets: fllKAtg workdays and commute hours; The Golden Gate Bridge- District bans tankers dufifigd3y-time hours and requires a fire truck escort at Since the area's refineries are.in Contra Costa however, most gasoline movement to the north is across the. unrestricted Ssprjta-fael -Bridge and by underwater pipeline across the Bay. Contributing to this report was Tribune staff writer Abby Cohn. refineries (in Contra Cdsta County) through Franklin Canyon on Highway end Interstate 80, or to the South- Bay pn Interstates 580 and 680 trucks useand accident rates on those routes, but he cannot consider; operators According to the regula- on- Vi alternate routes and Chevron spokesmen Spivtgf said, that after ststthietuAnfl available, accordingsaidthey use a Southernl Pacific and 'feBeraHnvestigations are to tokesman for Shell Oil Railroad Co. pipeline to bring complete," the highway ddminisr Chevron.

UKA. and the Califor-' gas from eastern-Contra Costa (ration will decide whether to nia Trucking Association, and oil County -refineries or. Highway 80 file charges against Armour Oil. comphnspokedmen said their to transport gasoline from Rich- gasolioe heulers dont use the mond. Southern Pacific has operated Mayb said tunnel 'does not- pipelines in the Bay Area for 26.

U.S. agencies review tank truck standards By Kathy OToois involved cargoes of petroleum products. Fires occurred in 22 percent of the cases where any of the load was spilled, and in half of those-spills the cargo was gasoline. Researchers found that two-thirds of the accidents were caused by er error or mechanical failure. Other drivers partially or totally at fault.in 48 percent of the accidents.

There has been little change in the design of tank trucks in the past 30 years, except that tanks got bigger as diesel engines became more powerful, according to Federal Highway Administration officials- 1 The FHA and the federal Materials Transportation Bureau of the Department of Transportation are reviewing the federal standards for tanker track design. The California Highway Patrol is that, driver 'training standards be increased, although the agency points out that most tank track drivers carrying hazardous materials already have more experience and training than other truck drivers. Chevron U.S.A., according-: to Transportation Manager C.B. Zachary in has cut its accident rate in half in the past five years by increasing driver training. Recent studies of tank truck accidents by the California Highway Patrol and the Institute for Highway Safety Research at Michigan State University have prompted a federal review of whether the tankers can be built with a lower center of gravity to increase safety.

In the California study, the High-, way Patrol concluded that tank trucks could be built with more road stability and with better pressure retention of their contents. The researchers reviewed all 131 California tank truck accidents occurring between February 1980 and January 1981. While the accidents represented only 2 percent of all truck accidents, they were far more likely to cause deaths and injuries, because: Sixty percent of the tankers contained hazardous materials, prompting more deaths by fire and inhalation of Half of the 22 deaths were attributed to fire. The trucks were more prone to mechanical failure than other tracks. They were likely to overturn.

It takes greater skill to handle a track containing liquids. About half of the tanker accidents A tow truck works to' remove the AC Transit bus from SaMsecitt Ti outside the Ci Tunnil on Wedniseday, After the bus driver was thrown from the vehicle, it continued to careen through the tunnel finally crashing into a pillar. Caldecott may reopen as early as next week Tank truck driver averts Lake Tahoe tunnel tragedy By Gene Ayres Staat and Craig Stasis i CAVE ROCK, Nev. (AP) A quick-think ing gasoline truck driver avoided another tun-' nel disaster Wednesday, near this Lake Tahoe community after another fuel track and -a car crashed just ahead of him. Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Gary At- kins -credited trucker Alton King with averting a holocaust by keeping his rig from ramming-into the other vehicles stopped in the-'Cave-Rock tunnel on UK.

50. A vehicle driven by Geragianna 53 of Port Orford, rammed into the side of-the tunnel trying to. avoid another unidentif ied car that spun out just ahead of her. Abney got out of her -car, which had blocked the, Tim southbound lanes through the Cave. long it will take to make the repairs, if the bore is reopened for morning and evening commuters and.

closed rest of the day for the repairs, as it plans to do. The first tunnel through the hills in the area opened in 1903, followed by twin bores built in 1937 at a cost Of 84 million. In I960, they were renamed the Caldecott Tunnel, after the late Thomas E. Caldecott, who had pushed the project as ehaitiVM) of the Alameda County Board of SupervK-sors and Joint Highway District No. 13, a financing district fra the tunnel The third brae, where the was built in 1964 to relieve congestion from increased city-suburban traffic and is just north of the twin tunnels.

1 the heat so' weakened some of them that they can be knocked off by hand. may end up replacing half of them, Halligan said. Halligan said clean-up work and repairs will begin as soon as Investigators, including a. National Trans-' Vportatlon Safety Board panel, finish probing fhe accident 1 Although the investigation of the in the tunnel will be headed 7 by eight experts from the California Highway Patrol seven agents six from Washington, D.C. and one hem Los Angeles, from the safety board are coming here to help in the probe.

first project in-repairing the' tunnel which may begin today, is replacing electrical wiring to provide light Halligan sahLv' Caltrans jus bo estimate of how flake off, exposing some steel rein- forcing bars, and workers will have to check them to see if they have been weakened, said Bob Halligan, Caltrand district public affairs direc-ttor. If they have, -they will be. replaced, he said. Then a new layer of Gunitd premixed concrete sprayed on through a tube will be applied, Halligan The fire, which left seven dead, destroyed the bores electric and tel-. epbone wiring and: the heat caused the tunnels light green tiles to flake off walls and ceilings by the thousands, and smash on the -The tiles were originally installed to easier to remove exhaust grime inside the bore.

Though not; all the, tiles fell ofl. TiteteM StaN Despite temperatures that 2,000 degrees, the blase that shut down part' of Caldecott Tunnel probably did not damage it structurally and Caltrans spokesmen said Wednesday they may be ready to reopen it, at- least" during- peak commuter hours, by the middle of next. week. Bob a Caltrans maintenance branch chief, put the damage from the early Wednesday fire and bus-truck accident at 1 million not including replacement of the bores tiled The bore cost about gll million when it was built In 1904. The blaze's intense heat caused concrete on some ceiling sections, to nel and ran to the north entrance to try- to iel-Tufer warn oncoming But a diese truck driven by jfrank Bondiettl, 50, entered the tunnel and the two vehicles collided.

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