Driver Killed in Loop 820 Fort Worth Wreck

FORT WORTH — The driver of a Jeep Grand Cherokee was killed Friday evening in a chain-reaction collision involving five vehicles, including a Fort Worth city bus for the disabled, on eastbound Northeast Loop 820 at Mark IV Parkway, police said.

Three of the vehicles caught fire. Four drivers were taken to hospitals, two of them to the burn unit at Parkland Memorial Hospital in Dallas and two with lesser injuries to Fort Worth hospitals, authorities said.

Ronnie Ware, 34, who was driving the T bus, which is outfitted to transport the elderly and disabled, received minor burns on his hands and arms while helping his single passenger to safety, said Tony Johnson, chief operations officer for the Fort Worth Transportation Authority. The passenger was not injured and went home with his family.

The collisions started about 5:40 p.m. on the loop as it passes over Mark IV Parkway just west of Interstate 35W. Traffic had slowed in the approach to the I-35 exit ramp, police Sgt. Rodney Bangs said. A pickup rear-ended a Chrysler 300, a Chevrolet TrailBlazer struck the pickup, the Grand Cherokee struck the TrailBlazer, and the T bus struck the Grand Cherokee, Bangs said.

The Grand Cherokee caught fire, and that fire spread to the bus and the TrailBlazer. The flames scorched the paint on nearby vehicles, Bangs said.