Katie Dowd, Andrew Chamings
SFGate, San Francisco
(MCT)
4月7日 - 我们大多数人穿过Caldecott隧道太快了。也许这是逃避无窗空间不安的幽闭恐惧症的潜意识愿望。或者只是不可避免地赶紧从山丘的一侧到另一侧。但是，对于许多长期的湾区居民来说，这是1982年4月7日的不可动摇的回忆（当时有7人在隧道中死亡），困扰着从奥克兰到奥林达的每次旅行。
在1930年代之前，阿拉米达（Alameda）和反对哥斯达黎加县（Contra Costa Counties）之间的旅行者不得不穿越山麓小路，通常是在今天的鱼牧场路上。这很困难和不便，在1920年代，两个县认为是时候穿过山丘了。1937年，当时加利福尼亚州最长的高速公路隧道的大百老汇低水平隧道向驾驶员开放。（1960年，为了纪念托马斯·E·卡尔德科特（Thomas E. Caldecott）的纪念，该项目被重新定义。
1982年,加州运输局估计110000辆through the three bores of the Caldecott Tunnel each day. But a little past midnight on April 7, vehicle traffic had thinned out, with just a few cars and trucks zipping through in the darkness.
根据加利福尼亚高速公路巡逻队的一份314页的事故报告，珍妮丝·弗里斯（Janice Ferris）的一项决定是“造成灾难的舞台”。这位来自圣莱安德罗（San Leandro）的34岁老人在她的本田合法陶醉的方向盘后面，从奥林达（Orinda）进入隧道，朝奥克兰（Oakland）前进。不知何故，她失去了对汽车的控制，在两车道钻孔的两侧砸成路缘，并刺穿了轮胎。汽车在隧道中间附近停下来。
弗里斯（Ferris）后面是一辆油轮卡车，载有近9,000加仑汽油。当它开始接近无行为能力的本田时，由55岁的约翰·戴克斯（John Dykes Jr.）驾驶的AC运输巴士试图挤过油轮。CHP报告称Dykes的速度为60英里 /小时，直到为时已晚，他才看到停滞的本田。公共汽车转向油轮，导致油轮倾斜。
Within seconds, the tunnel was an inferno. Right behind the crash were son and mother Steve and June Rutledge, driving to June’s home in Piedmont. Steve stopped his Ford pickup and ran out into the road. A survivor of the fire, Paul Petroelje, told the San Francisco Examiner that he saw Steve waving down traffic entering the tunnel and turning them around. Steve staggered out through the smoke while June, a reporter at the Piedmonter newspaper, said she was going to try to call 911 on an emergency phone in the tunnel. She never got the chance.
总是吹过隧道的风创造了阿拉米达县验尸官后来称之为“大灯效应”的风。愤怒的汽油大火向上爆炸，向朝奥林达爆炸。热量是如此强烈 - 在某些地点最多可达2,000度 - 以至于它的路径中的所有东西都立即消耗掉。用加利福尼亚交通运输部员工蒂姆·米勒（Tim Miller）的话说，这是一个“巨型烤箱”。
六月在大火中死亡。警方将史蒂夫（Steve）归功于史蒂夫（Steve），成功地转了六辆汽车，挽救了他们的生命。
“I could see the thick smoke,” Petroelje told reporters. “It was really boiling out and was thick, like a refinery fire. I have friends in the fire department and they always said it’s the smoke that kills you. I could tell this was the kind of smoke they were talking about.” Petroelje also told the paper he saw a Pontiac driver turn their car sideways to prevent other drivers entering the tunnel. “That man was a real hero too,” Petroelje said. “I saw the lights of that car parked sideways go out. I don’t know what happened to that driver.”
The Examiner reported that two “skeletons” were found inside a sideways-facing Pontiac at the scene. They were later identified as Katherine and George Lenz, an elderly couple from San Francisco. Also killed were Ferris, Dykes and two men in a beer delivery truck, Everett Kidney and Melvin Young.
“No one in here had a chance,” a firefighter told the Berkeley Gazette.
Reporters were allowed into the tunnel at 4 a.m., just a few hours after the accident. The blaze had taken out the lighting system, so their way was lit only by dim flashlights. As they passed an incinerated beer truck, a few cans of Miller exploded, and a “slight sour smell” cut through the nauseating air, the Gazette reported. Reporters averted their eyes as they came upon each vehicle, nearly all still containing the skeletal remains of their occupants.
奇迹般地，油轮的驾驶员梅尔文·梅茨克（Mervyn Metzker）设法逃脱了出租车，并在时间上逃离了隧道。CHP后来清除了他任何不当行为。他们的报告将事故的主要原因确定为“公交车司机约翰·戴克斯（John Dykes Jr.）的注意力不集中和过度速度的结合”。
尽管造成了损害，但Caldecott隧道在4月12日下午五天后重新开放。卫生防护中心担心驾驶员会导致隧道的事故放缓，但官员惊讶地看到驾驶者不会因损坏而停下来橡胶颈。交通的步伐持续不断，也许是恐惧的驾驶员渴望摆脱现在的死亡陷阱。（就其价值而言，一项主要法律来自Caldecott Tunnel Fire：携带危险材料的卡车，例如汽油，只能在每天凌晨3点至上午5点之间使用隧道。
The day after the fire, the Oakland Tribune spoke with CHP investigator Gabriel Contreras as he was supervising a forklift brought in to remove the tanker. Contreras told the paper that the chassis of the truck was fused to the highway floor by the intense heat of the fire, which had “melted the truck’s hubcaps into puddles.”
他说：“我是哲学家。”“每当我看到其中一个，这不是经常的，我说，‘那里，但是为了上帝的恩典，我去。'”
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