Credit: San Bernardino County Fire Department via X
SAN BERNARDINO COUNTY, Calif. – A major highway connecting Los Angeles and Las Vegas has been closed for more than a day, after a truck carrying lithium batteries caught on fire. Now, crews are dealing with a hazmat situation in triple-digit temperatures.
It happened around 10 a.m. Friday, in the northbound lanes of Interstate 15 near Baker, the San Bernardino County Fire Department reported. The truck overturned around mile marker 113, leaking fuel, which then caught fire. Adding to the difficulty, the truck was carrying lithium-ion batteries, which also started to burn.
That’s a problem, the SBCFD says, because when lithium-ion batteries catch fire, it “can escalate to thermal runaway, needing massive amounts of water to extinguish.”
Both sides of the 15 Freeway were closed near Baker for most of Friday, with the southbound lanes reopening around 3 p.m. As of Saturday afternoon, the northbound lanes remain closed.
Crews working on the scene Saturday have three big challenges: the traffic, the heat, and the container.
Temperatures near Baker Friday reached 110 degrees Friday, and 111 Saturday afternoon. The county fire department said that dispatch has received numerous calls since the closure for people suffering heat-related emergencies, including many people who were trapped on the roads in the heat without water.
To help with that, the SBCFD brought supplies to the Clyde V Kane Rest Stop off of the northbound lanes of the 15, south of Afton Canyon Road.
For the traffic, the California Highway Patrol has been alternating traffic using just the southbound lanes. But officials ask anyone planning to travel in the area to use Interstate 40 instead.
As of Saturday afternoon, crews are still working to move the container from the side of the road, but it weighs more than 75,000 pounds, officials said, which “has made these efforts unsuccessful so far.”
The fire has also raised air quality concerns in the area, because of the hazardous chemicals that have burned. Crews are monitoring the air for chemicals like hydrogen cyanide and chlorine, which fire officials say are “particularly dangerous even at low concentrations.”
It’s not yet clear when the northbound lanes of the 15 Freeway will reopen, but crews are urging the public to avoid the area.