A Fireball, Then a Frantic Scramble to Save a Trucker in
Virginia  A volcano of sparks erupted from the curve. Then a
huge fireball shot skyward.  CHESAPEAKE BAY BRIDGE-TUNNEL, Va.
(AP) -- With 800 miles in the rear view mirror, Clay Backus paid
the $12 toll, rolled up his window against the raw wee hours and
headed north across the bridge.  There was no time to detour to
his parents' place in Suffolk. Backus, 25, was making tracks
from grad school in Florida to see his newborn daughter in
Maryland.  He rubbed his weary eyes: 3 a.m., March 4, only a few
more hours to go.  The red tail lights of a lone 18-wheeler, his
only company on the span, winked in the distance.  Backus dipped
into the first tunnel, a whoosh of bright lights, then back up
to the blackness. The tractor-trailer was still there, about a
quarter-mile ahead. A panorama of rugged beauty stretched all
around, milky foam, half moon, clouds of ink. The second tunnel
came and went. Lights glittered on the high-rise section of the
bridge ahead, an a