
Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederon, 23, from Texas was arrested Friday. He is being held in Jefferson County Jail and is scheduled to appear in court Saturday afternoon

A man has been taken into custody and faces multiple counts of vehicular homicide charges after four people were killed in the 28-vehicle fiery crash on the Interstate 70 west of Denver, Colorado on Thursday.

Police identified the driver of the semi that they believe caused the fatal crash as Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederon, 23. He is said to be from Texas and was released from hospital with minor injuries after 'one of the worst accidents' the Lakewood area had ever seen.

He is due in Jefferson County Court Saturday at 1pm for an advisement hearing.

Authorities said that there were still bodies at the scene of the incident in burnt car shells and daylight would help the recovery.

The crash occurred at 4.50pm but investigators were not able to get a closer look until around 10pm. It took five hours for West Metro Fire Rescue to extinguish the flames.

They admitted the number of motors caught in the incident was much higher than they thought due to debris getting in the way of the investigation. A total of 24 cars and four semis were counted.

'That number (of involved vehicles) is significantly higher than what we had last night,' Ty Countryman, a spokesman for the police department in Lakewood, Colorado, said. 'A lot of that is because once the debris of the semis and cars under semis — once we could get in and really start doing a car count, that's why that number really went up.'

Part of the I-70 was still closed Friday morning after the Thursday fireball crash that involved 28 vehicles. The chief engineer with the Colorado Department of Transportation said immense heat and oil could burn the road away

The crash involved four semis and six people were taken to hospital with injuries. Four people died in the pile-up

Rogel Lazaro Aguilera-Mederon, 23, was taken into custody after he was released from hospital with minor injuries following the crash near Denver

Aguilera was said to driving this white flatbed semi that is seen being towed away from the scene on Friday

The West Metro Fire Department shared images of the aftermath of the incident that occurred on Thursday afternoon

The crash occurred near a bridge overpass, which was damaged in the blaze and is now being looked at by engineers

Investigators were not able to get a close look at the scene until around 10pm after flames were extinguished. Bodies were said to still be on the scene as rescuers could not get deeper into the debris until the flames were gone. They said daylight would help them in the recovery

However the charges for the man in Jefferson County Jail were decided after assessing evidence and carrying out interviews overnight.

There was no suggestion drink or drugs played a part in causing the crash. Countryman also said it didn't appear the 'devastating' crash was intentional. Investigators are looking at whether the truck lost its cargo, experienced brake failure or had some other mechanical issue that left the eighteen-wheeler unable to stop.

'It is true carnage there as far as the debris, what's left of cars and trucks, along with the cargoes that were in the semis,' Countryman said.

The spokesperson said there was enough probable cause to go ahead with the charges.

At least six were injured during the evening commute when a tractor-trailer careened into several other vehicles.

'The vehicle came down and ended up colliding with slower traffic, causing a very big chain-reaction crash that also ignited and started a fire,' Countryman said on Thursday.

The fireball is estimated to have reached around 2,500-degrees Fahrenheit.

Chief engineer with the Colorado Department of Transportation, Josh Laipply, said all of the heat and oil was able to burn the road away. Images show the burned asphalt take on a gravel-like appearance.

One of the semi tricks can be seen next to several cars including a Jeep and another SUV that were involved

One of the trucks was carrying lumber, which toppled onto the road fueling the fire

Wooden beams and planks were seen strewn across the highway like matchsticks as the fire took hold

Police said the number of motors caught in the incident was much higher than they thought

'I was hitting other cars. When I came to a stop, I look in my rear view mirror and all I saw was a bunch of flames,' witness Brian Dickey told KMGH about being involved in the accident. 'And I jumped out of the vehicle as fast as I could. There was so much fire at the time that I couldn't even really approach any of the other vehicles to see if there was any other survivors or what.'

Traffic on I-70 where the crash occurred was already backed up because of an earlier accident involving a school bus, a semitrailer and a sedan.

All of the children aboard the bus were reported to be okay with just minor injuries. Some people were taken to a hospital for further examination.

In the moments before the second more devastating accident, a YouTuber inadvertently captured the speeding big rig zooming along the shoulder, flying past his own car which was stuck in slow-moving traffic caused by the first crash.

A YouTuber was filming his journey when the speeding big rig blew past him at breakneck speed taking him by surprise

The shock on Joshua McCutchen aka Burger Planet's face is clear, as he notes the speed of the big rig flying by

The driver turned his camera around and within a few moments a thick black plume of smoke rose into the sky

Bystanders at the side of the road watched in horror at the carnage as fire crews worked hard to put out the blaze

The video, from Burger Planet, shows the speeding semi passing stopped vehicles at a colossal speed.

The camera is then rotated around to show a large plume of thick black smoke rising from where I-70 goes under Denver West Colorado Mills Parkway.

Joshua McCutchen told Good Morning America that a man who was standing by the road with a sign asking for money ended up saving the lives of four people by pulling them from the wreck.

'He's definitely a hero - he saved four people's lives,' the vlogger said. 'I've never seen that many cars and that much destruction and fire. It was just complete chaos.'

The big rig had crashed and exploded into flames, igniting a number of other vehicles in its path.

Video footage of the accident's aftermath showed flames raging beneath and around the overpass. Black smoke could be seen rising into the air around the scene.

The big rig was one of four that were reportedly involved in the accident, each of them bursting into flames

It's hard to distinguish any type of car or truck in this photo of a raging inferno on Interstate 70

From above the scale of the accident is clear with multiple vehicles ablaze

A preliminary investigation suggests Aguilera lost control of the semi-truck, resulting in the explosion and fire

Engineers have now been called in to check on the stability of the bridge after the blaze hit

The road will also have to be resurfaced after it began to melt under the scorching temperatures

The blaze lasted for several hours after a diesel spill and lumber only added fuel to the fire

The runaway semi-truck plowed into standstill traffic, causing explosions and fire as several more vehicles were hit

One of the trucks was carrying lumber. That, coupled with a diesel spill, only added fuel to the fire.

A stretch of Interstate 70, a major east-west highway route that runs through Denver into the Rocky mountains, was closed in both directions for several hours and it is unlikely to reopen before Friday morning's commute.

Countrymen said engineers from the Colorado Transportation Department were inspecting the overpass bridge for possible structural damage from the fire. There is also road damage from the inferno.

Preliminary investigations suggest Aguilera lost control resulting in the explosions and fire as several other vehicles were hit.

Thick smoke is seen billowing from the scene of the crash in which 'multiple people' lost their lives on Thursday afternoon

It took fire crews several hours to bring the blaze under control and even late into the evening there were still 'hot spots'

There were numerous explosions as a result of the accident yet traffic was still driving on the bridge directly above

Helicopter footage shows the blaze in its early stages before the fire really took hold

It was not immediately clear which vehicles accounted for the fatalities. None of the victims have yet been identified.

A West Metro Fire Rescue firefighter was also injured by an explosion, fire officials said.

The firefighter was hit by debris, possibly an exploding tire. His injuries were described as minor.

A bridge over the Denver crash site was damaged in the blaze, and engineers from the Colorado Department of Transportation responded to check its stability

Emergency services described the scene as one of 'carnage' as fire consumed all of the vehicles involved in the accident

At 7:15pm on Thursday officials said the highway would remain closed in both directions for several more hours

Investigators are trying to a assess the stability of a bridge near the crash which they said was not hit

Firefighters are seen tackling the blaze at the devastating scene where Aguilera's semi crashed into other vehicles

People were still trapped into burnt out car shells according to authorities