While Westport firefighters battled this car fire on Interstate 95 northbound, between Exits 18 and 19, early Saturday morning, crews were dispatched to the scene of a two-vehicle crash that killed a 36-year-old motorcyclist on the highway nearby. / Photos, Westport Police Department

WESTPORT — State Police are seeking witnesses to a fatal crash on Interstate 95 near Exit 18 northbound.

State Police said a 35-year-old Waterbury man, Frank James Brown, struck the rear of a car ahead of him and lost control of his motorcycle at 6:37 a.m. Saturday.

The accident took place at approximately the same time Westport firefighters were battling a vehicle fire between northbound Exits 19 and 18. Local fire crews also were dispatched to the scene of the motorcycle crash.

Brown veered into the median and struck a Jersey barrier before his motorcycle slid on its side about 50 feet.

Firefighters cordoned off lanes of northbound Interstate I-95, between Exits 17 and 18, early Saturday at the scene of crash that claimed the life of a motorcyclist from Waterbury.

The Westport Voluntary Emergency Medical Service responded and took Brown to Norwalk Hospital with life-threatening injuries, State Police said, where he was later pronounced dead.

The vehicle Brown struck from behind, State Police said, was a 2007 Honda Odyssey with five people from New York City inside. None were injured.

Brown was riding a 2006 Honda ST 1300.

The incident closed down the northbound lanes of I-95 for several hours from exits 17 to 18. Traffic throughout southern Fairfield County was impacted.

Westport’s roads were tangled with traffic.

State Police said their Collision Analysis and Reconstruction Squad was investigating.

“No enforcement action has been taken at this time and this accident remains under investigation,” State Police said.

Anyone that might have information is asked to contact State Police Troop G in Bridgeport at 203-696-2500.

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