Florida: Smoke from fire causes accidents, one fatality

Smoke from a 5-acre brush fire reduced the visibility on a road near Palatka, Florida to 20-30 feet, causing a multi-car accident and one fatality, 88-year old Ellis Barnes.

Barnes apparently missed a driveway in the smoke and drove his truck into a ditch. The trailer he was pulling blocked the southbound lane of County Road 315, about three miles north of State Road 100.

A small two-door hatchback, driven by 51-year-old Ellen Wilder of Keystone Heights, collided with the trailer.

While Barnes was on the phone with E911, a small pickup stopped just short of the hatchback.

A 1-ton dual-rear wheeled truck then struck the small pick-up, pushing it into the hatchback, which in turn hit the trailer again.

The force of the crash caused the small pickup to spin counter-clockwise and pin Barnes between it and his own truck.