A head-on crash involving a fuel-tanker truck and a Honda passenger car this morning has resulted in one death while another three people suffered injuries, including one who's considered critical.
Shelby County Coroner Diana Steele New identified the driver who died as James Bradley Ferguson, 18, of Birmingham. Ferguson used to live in Chelsea, she said.
Pelham Police Lt. David Rushton this afternoon told reporters gathered near the crash scene on Highway 11 in the area of Chatham Court that the driver of the Honda vehicle has died.
The driver of the tanker truck is listed in critical condition while another occupant of the Honda has injuries that are not considered life-threatening, Rushton said. Names have not been released.
Rushton said a Pelham police officer pulled the driver of the tanker truck from the wreckage, which caught fire following this morning's collision. The tanker had been hauling some 9,000 gallons of gasoline.
Emergency crews and others are continuing to work the scene of the crash, which has shut down travel along Highway 11 between Pelham and Chelsea. Police hope to have the route reopened by 5 p.m.
This morning's crash sent a dark plume of smoke over Shelby County and shut down the busy highway as initial reports from police involved four injuries in the crash.
The crash happened before 7 a.m. at an area near the border of Pelham and Chelsea on Highway 11 just north of Chatham Court. Officers, deputies and firefighters from multiple agencies responded to the scene.
Police were initially limiting traffic on Shelby County Highway 11 between Old Highway 280 to County Road 52. Pelham officials said they expect the highway to reopen at 2 p.m., but that has been delayed.
Pelham police just before 10 a.m. said much of Highway 11 has been reopened following the crash; however, police were still blocking traffic in the area of Highway 11 and County Road 52. A section from Chatham Court to Lakeview Methodist Church is expected to remain closed until possibly 5 p.m., according to police.
Pelham Police Lt. Davy Lott at the scene this morning said the crash involved a fuel-tanker truck and a Honda Accord. He said four people were injured, including the driver of the tanker who suffered burns.
Lott said two of the injured individuals were occupants of the truck while the other two were in the Honda.
SkyBama.com recorded aerial video of the crash scene and emergency response, seen below:
Authorities set up a landing zone at Chelsea High School for LifeSaver Helicopter. One patient was transported by air ambulance to an area hospital from the high school staging area.
The tanker spilled 87-octane gas, which then caught fire. "Our biggest thing was evacuating people from the immediate area," Lott said.
It was unknown how many homes were evacuated. No houses are believed to have been damaged in the fire.
Shelby County Emergency Management Agency Director Hubbard Harvey said in an interview the tanker truck was carrying 9,000 gallons of gasoline at the time of the crash. "We're still determining an exact amount of how much spilled and how much burned up," Harvey said.
Witnesses in the area of the crash scene reported hearing multiple explosions after the collision.
"We heard a big-old boom. It was louder than a gunshot,'' said 14-year-old Lauren Bush. "It was vibrating the windows in the house. We could feel it in our chest, too."
Bush spent the night with her friend Lexi Jones, who lives on Highway 11 about 100 yards from the crash site. They said they heard about three explosions. "I was scared somebody was hurt,'' Lexi said.
They said the incident terrified them. "I was throwing up. I got light-headed and I got really hot,'' Lauren said. "It's a scary feeling."
Lexi added, "I know little kids live over there and I was scared they were hurt."
Wendy Grado lives directly across the street from where the crash happened. She was cooking breakfast and looking out her window when she heard a crash and saw fire moments later.
"I heard something, 'pow,'" Grado said, slapping a fist into her hand. "I saw that truck catch on fire ... after that, everything was on fire."
When she saw the flames across the street from her own property, she ran to her backyard and grabbed a hose to spray down her yard, "but it was so hot," she said.
"I was scared and I was worried for my children because they were sleeping," Grado said of her family, ages 12, 5 and 17 months.
Jackie Marquez, 17, said she was sleeping in her nearby home when she "heard a big boom, and I thought it was thunder."
"We all went outside and saw a big fire," she said, gathered with her family members near the still-burning crash site.
Sandy Englebert was at her home on Highway 11 near the scene when the power went out just before she heard "a series of boom sounds," she said, estimating five or six explosions.
"At the time it scared me, of course, but more for what was going on over there than here," Englebert said at her home with her 14-year-old son, Trey, at her side.
Trey was sleeping when the explosions jolted him. "It woke me up and kind of freaked me out," he said.
Deputies recommended motorists avoid travel on Highway 11. Pelham police reported the crash caused power outages in the area, and crews from Alagasco and Alabama Power responded to the scene.
Pelham police just before 10 a.m. said residents of Chatham Court, Houston Drive and Kelly Drive were allowed to return to their residences, but power was still out in the area.
The Pelham Police Department reported just before 2 p.m. that Alabama Power almost completed restoring power to the area. AT&T and Charter Communications were also working to restore outages caused by the crash.
The Shelby County Sheriff's Office this morning reported deputies were called by Pelham at 7 a.m. to assist with a motor vehicle accident involving a tanker truck.
Law enforcement initially closed about 4 miles of Highway 11 in both lanes of travel during the response involving the Pelham Fire Department, the Chelsea Fire Department, the Cahaba Valley Fire Department and others.
AL.com reporter Carol Robinson and photographer Frank Couch contributed to this report.