Looking back at the 1996 tire fire that shut down I-95 in Philly

The effort to rebuild a section of Interstate 95 that collapsed Sunday in Northeast Philadelphia is beginning — and it’s not the first time a section of the highway has been closed due to a fire.

In March 1996, a nearly two-mile stretch of the roadway was closed in Port Richmond after a tire fire left it badly damaged. While the highway didn’t collapse, a portion was in such bad shape that it wasn’t fully repaired for about four months.

Just before 1:30 a.m. on March 13 a heap of discarded tires under I-95 went up in a massive fire, The Inquirer reported. An eight-alarm blaze, the fire burned for five hours, requiring 50 pieces of equipment and 180 firefighters to place under control.

The flames became so hot that they “burned the bottom of I-95 as if it were a pot over an open flame,” The Inquirer reported. As a result, the blaze snapped support wires, charred concrete, buckled guardrails, and caused basketball-sized chunks of concrete to fall from the structure. The smoke was so thick the city Health Department issued an air quality advisory for people living within three-quarters of a mile of the fire.

As a result of the damage, a complete span of the highway measuring about 63 feet had to be replaced. A stretch between Allegheny Avenue and Bridge Street remained closed for about a week as crews worked to install a temporary fix. At the time, the highway carried an estimated 150,000 vehicles a day.

“It took me two hours to get to work today,” one motorist told The Inquirer following the blaze. “I plan to leave for work earlier tomorrow.”

Initial estimates put a full repair at about six months to the tune of more than $2 million. And officials believed from the start that the fire that damaged the highway was set intentionally.

Repairs began hours after the fire was extinguished, with a New Jersey-based contractor bolstering a 120-foot cross-section of the interstate to allow vehicles to get back on the road. A partial reopening arrived about a week later, as motorists were cut down to two lanes of travel from the usual eight. Repairs continued while the road was in use.

Oddly for Philly, the initial reopening went well. Officials reported no significant delays, and suspected that drivers were so wary of possible tie-ups that they avoided the area as if the highway remained closed, according to an Inquirer report.

Crews continued working until July, with additional lanes opening throughout construction. That month, Philadelphia firm Buckley & Co. wrapped up three weeks ahead of schedule, netting them a $510,000 bonus for the early finish, The Inquirer reported. In total, the project involved replacing 180 feet of elevated roadway at a cost of $3.5 million, which came from an emergency fund from the Federal Highway Administration.

But what about the fire?

Investigators initially traced the blaze to a nearby tire dump on Schiller Street known as the Philadelphia Tire Disposal Co. The heap of tires had been a neighborhood pain point for years, with neighbors, city officials, and state environmental regulators demanding that CEO Joseph A. Tomczak clean up the mess. Violation notices from the Department of Licenses and Inspections began in 1994.

Tomczak, The Inquirer reported, hired Daniel J. Carr of Bucks County to dispose of the tires from his business. But Carr reportedly just stashed many of them beneath the interstate, and brought in others from another tire dump he owned in Quakertown, which landed him and his cohorts in some legal trouble.

Then, in March 1996, a group of Port Richmond-area teenagers found the tires.

Authorities charged the teens in October 1996, alleging that the seven of them were responsible for not only the fire that damaged I-95, but 12 others in the Port Richmond area. Because of their ages, some of the teens’ names were not released. Their alleged crimes caused an estimated $6 million in damages, The Inquirer reported.

Two were of adult age — Kevin McMahon and Brian Cerebe — and pleaded guilty to arson charges in federal court. A third, John Dieck, 18, died in the crash of a stolen car in South Jersey in July 1996. Cerebe was not charged in the I-95 fire but was in other blazes the group was accused of setting.

Authorities alleged that McMahon, Dieck, and two unnamed juveniles drove to the pile of tires in March. There, one of the juveniles set them ablaze with a barbecue fire starter and paper towels as McMahon, Dieck, and the other juvenile waited in McMahon’s car. In the wake of the fire, The Inquirer reported, the group allegedly drove around the area watching as firefighters fought the blaze.

Carr, meanwhile, was found guilty of risking a catastrophe and conspiracy for his role in accumulating the tires. He was sentenced to 7 to 14 years in prison.

At least one worker repairing the roadway was personally invested in the task. Charlie Neilio, a site superintendent, was set to call it a career in April 1996. The repairs to I-95 were to be his swan song, after which he would travel to the Outer Banks of North Carolina, where he was to retire. Of course, he needed to use 95 to get there.

“What a way for me to go out,” he said.