No Deaths Or Serious Injuries In Massive Car Pileup In Western Wisconsin

WISCONSIN — No deaths or serious injuries were reported after 40 vehicles were involved in scattered crashes on Thursday in Jackson County.

The first crash involved a semi-truck and some cars around 6 a.m. at mile marker 96 on the Interstate 94, Lt. Tim Weiberg of the Wisconsin State Patrol Northwest Region told Patch. The crash site was outside of Northfield, which is nearly 35 miles south of Eau Claire.

Ice and freezing rain on the roads led other cars into secondary crashes or to run off the road. Weiberg said it ended with a total of 40 vehicles involved in a chain of accidents spread between Osseo and Hixton. Between 15 and 20 semi-trucks were involved in the crashes.

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— WI State Patrol (@wistatepatrol) December 23, 2021

The only injuries reported by the state patrol were minor, but Weiberg said a local fire department took a busload of people off the highway and the patrol hasn't received injury reports from the bus group.

Parts of the U.S. Route 8, the I-94, U.S. Route 63, U.S. Route 53, U.S. Route 10, Wisconsin Highway 35 and Wisconsin Highway 29 were covered in ice, the Wisconsin Department of Transportation Northwest Region said in a statement.