DENVER (1010 WINS) -- A terrible 15 vehicle crash on Interstate 70 outside Denver killed multiple people on Thursday night.
The cars, pickup, trucks, and big rigs were so badly burned and mangled that police in Lakewood, Colorado don't know exactly how many people died.
The truck hit cars that were stuck in a traffic jam during rush hour.
"We do know that I-70 eastbound traffic was at a standstill or close to a standstill because of a crash way out ahead of it," he said. "The semi was eastbound and ended up colliding with the ... cars that were stopped because of the accident ahead. That's all we know or we are releasing at this point."
For over an hour towering flames raged from the vehicles on fire, propelled by fuel spilled on the highway from one of the trucks. Now, there are concerns about a bridge above the area.
A man who was out panhandling near the scene told CNN he saw the crash and jumped into action.
"It just caught on fire. And I just dropped my sign, took off running," Darin Barton said. "As soon as I [saw> flames, I headed under the bridge, grabbed three or four people out of a couple cars."
The Denver West Parkway bridge passes over I-70 and sustained structural damage during the fire, CNN reports.