Pennsylvania: Tractor-trailer crashes into fire vehicles on I-81

A tractor-trailer driver going too fast to stop for emergency vehicles caused a crash that shut down part of Interstate 81 north of Harrisburg for over seven hours Tuesday morning, police said.The tractor-trailer crashed into a fire truck and a fire company SUV in the northbound lanes then went into a ditch near Exit 80 for Grantville and Hershey around 2:30 a.m. Four fire personnel were taken to a hospital for treatment of injuries that were not life-threatening, state police in Harrisburg said in a news release. The northbound lanes of the interstate were closed between Manada Hill and Grantville but reopened by 10 a.m.

Police said the fire truck and a fire company SUV had emergency lights activated and were providing traffic control for a vehicle fire. The truck driver approached the emergency scene at an unsafe speed and attempted a sudden lane change when he saw the fire vehicles, but crashed into the front end of the fire truck and side-swiped the SUV.

Police did not release the truck driver's name, but they said the 38-year-old Columbus, Ohio man was driving with a suspended license.

A second crash at 6 a.m. restricted the northbound lanes at mile marker 78.6. Officials said that crash involved a tractor-trailer and a car. There is no word on injuries in that crash.