DEKALB COUNTY, Ga. — A FedEx driver and the driver's dog were killed early Saturday morning in a fiery wreck on I-285 North in DeKalb County.
According to DeKalb Fire Rescue, the truck left the roadway and struck a tree. It's not yet clear what caused the driver to veer off the roadway.
The driver has not yet been identified.
The fire service said that the contents of the FedEx truck have made it a "challenge to fight the fire," and several lanes on I-285 North closed, just south of US-78.
DeKalb County Police provided the following statement:
This morning at 2:01am, officers responded to a vehicle accident on I-285 NB just before Hwy 78. When they arrived, they located two vehicles and a tractor trailer involved in the accident. The tractor trailer had left the roadway and caught fire, before the driver (male in his 50s) could exit. He was pronounced deceased at the scene. The interstate was closed for an extended period of time due to the severity of the accident. There were no other injuries reported. The cause of the accident is still under investigation.
Police are continuing to investigate and crews are still working to clean up the scene. Fire officials said it could still be some time before the interstate fully reopens.
Georgia Department of Transportation cameras show that only one lane of traffic, on the left shoulder, is passing through.
There was also a second wreck just south of where the FedEx wreck occurred, in which fire officials said one person was injured.
How to get around it
There's not a really very great clean way to get up around I-285 to past where the lane closures end, but if you're traveling up I-285 on the Eastside Perimeter you can get off at Memorial Drive where the slowdowns generally start and proceed north from there.
- Traveling east off Memorial Drive: Go to North Indian Creek Dr., take it up all the way to Montreal Rd., use Montreal Rd. to get up to US-29 where you can head back west a short ways to I-285.
- Traveling west off Memorial Drive: Go up Northern Ave. to N. Decatur Rd., take it west to E. Ponce de Leon Ave., then go east again to McLendon Dr., which you can take up to US-29 and then head east to I-285.
- Getting off south of Memorial: You can also exit I-285 at Covington Highway/US-278, go east to South Indian Creek Dr., take it up to Rockbridge Rd., go west a short wasy to North Indian Creek Dr., and then go to up to Montreal Rd. and use that to get to US-29 and then back to I-285.