NORFOLK, Va. (WAVY) — For those on Interstate 264 who were caught up in the delays induced by the car fire inside the eastbound tube of the Downtown Tunnel Tuesday, it was probably a day that’s now burned into their memories.
Images of the burning car were captured on a VDOT camera inside the eastbound tube. It looked like the fire was coming from the driver’s side from the wheel and tire area. The cause of the fire is not yet known. Virginia State Police did confirm, though, that the vehicle involved was an older model Dodge Charger.
The driver was in the right lane, when he suddenly swerved into the left driving lane, where the car caught fire.
The beginning of the feed from the VDOT camera showed a man exiting the car, going back to retrieve some personal belongings. Virginia State Police said the driver of the car that caught on fire left the scene, but no charges have been filed.
Elizabeth River Crossings Director of Operations and Maintenance Ryan McLane provided a clearer timeline of what happened.
- 4:48 p.m.: A traffic operator in the control center saw the car fire on the camera monitor. Traffic was immediately stopped on both eastbound and westbound sides of the Downtown Tunnel, but since it was rush hour, several cars were already in the eastbound tunnel with the burning car.
- 4:58 p.m.: Emergency assets from Portsmouth and Norfolk arrived
- 5:46 p.m.: Fire put out
- 6:43 p.m.: One eastbound Downtown Tunnel lane open
- 7:15 p.m.: Both eastbound Downtown Tunnel lanes open
A driver in the tunnel directly behind the vehicle that caught on fire captured video of the frightening scene. The driver who shot the video spoke with WAVY, but doesn’t want to be identified.
“It was like fire was shooting from underneath the car,” the driver said. “I mean, it was really scary, like a lot of people started to get out their cars and like, walk away.”
McLane said, “We started, obviously, at the mouth of the tunnel and started back to get the vehicles out. If we get to a point where we don’t feel comfortable, or someone’s uncomfortable parking or reversing the car, we’ll just have the motorists abandon their vehicles in place, and we had about 10 who abandoned their vehicles because they were just jammed up.”
The person who was directly behind the burning car in the tunnel said she was scared.
“It was one of the scariest moments of my life,” she said. “It’s like what you see on TV.”
10 On Your Side drove slowly through the tunnel to see where there was damage caused by the fire. Where the car sat and burned, you could see wall tiles missing and darkened pavement where the car burned.
“Luckily, there wasn’t too much infrastructure damage,” McLane said. “We did lose some wall tiles on the side of the tunnel and some minor pavement damage to the roadway. Structurally, the tunnel is fine and it’s safe.”
The woman who was behind the car that was burning said “you [could] hear two large explosions, and you can see the flames in the tunnel wall, the ground and the whole car … was engulfed in flames. … I believe I might be a little nervous going into the tunnel. I’m not scared of the tunnel until something like this happens. … Basically we were trapped.”