Six cars crashed into the tanker, which began leaking its cargo of about 11,000 gallons of fuel onto the road, Procopio said. Flames shooting up from the tangle of vehicles charred a highway sign and an overpass and burned wires off a nearby utility pole.
Four motorists were taken to hospitals. Three had minor injuries and one man, Kevin Fitzgerald, 60, of South Hamilton, sustained serious burns and underwent emergency surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital, Procopio said.
State Police are investigating to determine the cause of the crash, he said.
The tanker was reduced to its frame, its massive tank gone. The cars also suffered extensive damage, with tires on some burned completely off the wheels.
The smell of gasoline lingered in the air for hours after the crash.
About 45 minutes after the crash, a second fireball rose from a creek a few hundred yards beyond the roadway. Fuel from the crash had seeped into the storm-drain system and pooled in the creek.
When it ignited, it spread burning embers across the neighborhood, setting fire to two greenhouse buildings, a house, fences, and several patches of brush, said Fire Chief James L. Blanchard.
“Lights were shaking from the ceilings of homes, and people woke up to see flames in the back of their house,’’ Blanchard said.
Plumes of smoke rose hundreds of feet into the air over the creek and over the M. Huberman Greenhouses, which lost two buildings and countless plants.
Greenhouse owner Allan Huberman stood shocked as crews battled the blazes.
Huberman said he recently devised a new mixture of soil that can grow crops using 75 percent less water than traditional soil and had been presenting it to government agencies.
Huberman lost some of that in the fire, but said he had not lost his spirit.
“This has been in business for four generations, and I don’t intend to leave,’’ he said.
The neighborhood was evacuated and 120 people had to seek shelter during the early morning. They were later allowed to return home.
Michael Shaw, 41, woke up after the crash and quickly knew something was not right.
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