Local News

Farmer defends decision to burn fields before pileup crash near I-795

Farmer Brooks Barnes says he had a burn permit and blames drivers braking too fast for a pileup on I-795 that involved two dozen vehicles.
Posted 2023-06-07T21:01:13+00:00 - Updated 2023-06-07T21:26:03+00:00
Drivers say smoke from burning crops caused crashes; farmer disagrees

A Wilson County farmer is defending his decision to burn his fields along Interstate 795, a fire drivers say diminished visibility and led to a 24-car pileup.

The crash happened near the line between Wilson and Wayne counties on Tuesday evening.

State troopers at the scene told WRAL News that two dozen cars and a tanker truck piled up in a crash, with at least 12 people suffering minor injuries.

"And I couldn’t even see like the front of my hood at that point," Art Garcia told WRAL News.

Garcia said the pileup happened right behind him as he drove south on I-795.

He said from far off, he could see a cloud of smoke drifting over the interstate. As he got closer, he saw the smoke was coming from burning fields next to the road, and he soon had to avoid cars that were braking inside the cloud.

"I’ve driven through smog and fog out on the west coast, but something like that, where you couldn’t even see the front of your hood, was really bad," Garcia said.

In the wake of the wreck, state troopers told WRAL News the North Carolina Forest Service would be investigating the fire, and whether it was a controlled burn.

Garcia said he didn’t see any warning signs posted on the road, and he has concerns about whether the burn was handled safely.

"I’’ve seen them do it before, but never that close to the highway," he told WRAL News. "And obviously not a lot of people are prepared for that."

WRAL News took those concerns to Brooks Barnes, the farmer who burned the fields by I-795 on Tuesday.

Barnes said it was a common practice in eastern North Carolina.

He showed us an open burn permit he had from the Crossroads Fire District that showed permission to set fire to the fields on the day of the wreck.

Barnes said he believed the blame for the wreck should fall on drivers who braked too quickly.

"I hate that it happened, but I don’t feel that I’m responsible," Barnes said.

WRAL News reached out to state troopers to ask if Barnes would face any liability for the wreck, and if this week’s wildfires in Canada impacted driver visibility as well during the pileup.

SHP responded that investigators had no additional information.

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