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Four people were killed in two fiery weekend collisions on I-80. 

The first crash at 2:30 a.m. Saturday at the Ashby Avenue interchange resulted in the deaths of the driver and two passengers in one car and shut down the freeway in both directions for seven hours. 

The second, a three-car crash at the Powell Street interchange in Emeryville at 2:15 a.m. Sunday, claimed the life of one of the motorists who extricated himself from the wreck only to be struck down by a passing vehicle. 

Berkeley firefighters, who have a reciprocal agreement with Emeryville, responded to both crashes, said BFD Deputy Chief David P. Orth. 

California Highway Patrol officers are seeking witnesses to the first crash, in response to reports that the another vehicle may have forced the 1995 Toyota in which the eastbound victims were riding into the path of a tractor-trailer rig traveling in the same direction. 

No formal identification of the three fatalities had been made as of press time Monday. 

Both the truck and the Toyota burst into flames on impact, and the truck hurtled over the center divider and into the path of two oncoming cars, both of which also caught fire, said Orth. 

The flames spread to grass next to the Ashby on-ramp, where they were extinguished without further damage. 

Orth said three people were hospitalized for non-life-threatening injuries: the truck driver, the driver of another westbound vehicle which became entangled in the crash and the driver of one of the eastbound vehicles that hit the truck after it leapt the divider. 

Berkeley firefighters remained on the scene until 6:51, when the crumpled Toyota had yielded the last of the victims. 

Eastbound traffic, the last to be restored, resumed at 9:20 a.m. 

The Highway Patrol requests anyone with information about the motorist who may have caused the crash and escaped unharmed to call the Oakland CHP office at 510-450-3821. 

Emeryville crash 

Berkeley firefighters were summoned to the Powell Street interchange at 2:23 a.m. Sunday to help battle another car fire. What they found was a two part-accident that had happened a few minutes earlier. 

The original two-car collision, between a westbound motorist and a parked car, ended with both vehicles on the shoulder and the driver of one standing outside his car, which was then hit by an oncoming Toyota. 

The impact hurled the driver into the roadway, where the Toyota, which had swerved away from the vehicle, ran over the him, killing him instantly. 

Orth said one patient was rushed to Highland Hospital for treatment of serious trauma, and three others were treated for minor injuries. 

Traffic was reopened at 4:35 a.m.