Horrific 53-vehicle pileup in Orange County cleared by one towing company: 'It's very surreal'
DURHAM, N.C. (WTVD) -- Twelve separate crashes involving 53 vehicles shut down a stretch of I-40 for 9 hours in Orange County on Wednesday as a winter storm hit the Triangle.
Robby Gardner of Lee's Towing said it's one of the worst wrecks he's ever seen.
Along with his crews, Lee's Towing pulled every single car out, one by one. They had to pull some cars out from under tractor-trailers and lift some of them over those same trucks to get them out.
It's very surreal.Robby Gardner, Lee's Towing
"You hear these stories out west, where you see all these major incidents and major collisions, and you don't really ever think that's going to be here, but last night, it hit home," Gardner told ABC11. "It's very surreal."
He said dozens of vehicles were trapped on I-40 for several hours as they worked to clear all the crashes
"Our fire and EMS, I know they had people, they were bringing food and water to all those people up there that were stuck," he said.
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He also told ABC11 that there was an ambulance stuck in the backup with a handful of people trying to get to a hospital.
"We ended up having to bring in another ambulance transfer them over, walk them around, get to the next ambulance just so they could get through the scene, so it was pretty rough," he said.
Gardner and his crews are still recovering from it all.
"I started around seven yesterday morning, and I got to my house for the first time at about noon today," he said.
Gardner's crews had a lot of close calls. One of his trucks even got hit, but he said that driver was okay.
After seeing it all, and working through it nonstop, he has advice for drivers next time a storm hits.
"Stay home, hug your family," Gardner said.
