Traffic was rerouted from both directions of the freeway through Canby to Donald/Aurora and Woodburn for nearly five and a half hours following the accident.

The driver, William Neil Adams, 56, of Scappoose, left the roadway for an unknown reason, hit an ice berm and flipped his Reinhard Petroleum truck carrying 11,000 gallons of gasoline in two attached tankers.

Oregon State Police reported that the tankers were fully loaded at the Highway 30 fuel terminal in Linnton with the truck enroute to Salem when it left the roadway about 2:45 a.m. Dec. 28. The truck and trailers drifted onto the right shoulder then hit an ice berm, according to Lt. Gregg Hastings, spokesman for the Oregon State Police. The truck continued approximately 70 feet off the freeway and overturned.

Fire personnel suspect the tankers cracked, spilling gasoline which then caught on fire, causing the explosion.

“The tanker truck and tanker trailer were extensively damaged by the fire,” said Lt. Gregg Hastings, OSP spokesman.

John Savage was unloading freight at the Albertson’s store in Wilsonville when he heard the crash.

“I heard a bang that sounded like a car backfiring and saw the flames explode,” he said. “There was a huge ball of fire. I got there right away.”

Savage went into a nearby field, about 20 to 30 feet from the flames, where he could finally see what was happening.

“It was truck fire, so I decided to back away,” he said. About then, the firefighters arrived and started yelling at me to get back, of course. It looked like gasoline was spread across the field and set on fire.”