Container of hazardous materials catches fire, closing crucial highway connecting Los Angeles and Las Vegas for 48 hours

By Sara Smart and Sarah Dewberry, CNN

(CNN) — A stretch of the major highway between California and Las Vegas was closed for 48 hours after a tractor trailer carrying hazardous materials overturned and caught on fire.

The California Highway Patrol announced Sunday morning that all lanes of Interstate 15 were open after crews worked overnight to “carefully move the hazardous materials container a safe distance away from the roadway.”

The truck lost control and overturned onto Interstate 15 near Barstow, California, around 6 a.m. Friday, according to the California Highway Patrol. The truck was pulling a flatbed trailer containing lithium-ion batteries that detached from the truck and eventually caught on fire.

“Due to the lithium-ion, water cannot be added to the fire, the batteries must burn out on their own,” the patrol said.

Both northbound and southbound lanes were initially closed due to the potential hazardous situation, but southbound lanes later reopened and northbound lanes remained closed until Sunday morning.

“The primary concern is the air quality due to the hazardous materials and chemicals involved,” San Bernardino County Fire said. “Air monitoring is assessing for hydrogen cyanide, chlorine, and sulfur dioxide. These chemicals pose significant health risks at elevated levels, with hydrogen cyanide and chlorine being particularly dangerous even at low concentrations.”

Efforts to remove the 75,000-pound container carrying the hazardous material from the highway were made more difficult by the vehicle’s weight, according to San Bernardino County Fire.

Drivers stuck for hours amid 100-degree heat

It typically takes around four hours to drive from Las Angeles to Las Vegas, but on Saturday, Barbara Gray said it took her and her friends 12 hours to get to Sin City due to the crash.

She told CNN that she and her friends initially thought the impact of the crash was “not that bad.”

“There was no indication of how insane it actually was,” Gray said. “Pretty much after Barstow, it was completely gridlocked. There would be 30 to 45 minutes at a time where we simply did not move.”

Gray said people had to use the bathroom on the side of the road amid over 115-degree heat.

“We luckily did not run out of gas. Thank God. I don’t even know what we would have done because there was no assistance,” Gray said. “There was nowhere to call anybody. There was no service on our phones.”

“People were really in a bad spot, and it was an emergency,” Gray said.

“People gave me some snacks, and then a guy asked me for water because he didn’t have any, so I had to give him water,” Gray said.

The gridlock finally broke open after getting past a stretch of construction that was not connected to the truck fire.

“It was extremely frustrating,” Gray said. “And it was scary. Honestly, it was very scary.”

Charles Gallagher, another driver who was caught in traffic on the highway, called the situation a “complete mess.” Gallagher, who was headed home to Las Vegas, told CNN that what should have been a four-hour-drive home instead took 11 hours.

Gallagher and his family left Los Angeles at 3:30 p.m. Friday and ran into traffic in Barstow around 6 p.m., when they were rerouted to Interstate 40.

Eventually, after realizing traffic wasn’t going to move any time soon, the family turned around and stayed the night in Barstow. When they left early Saturday morning, they decided to take I-40 as I-15 was still closed.

“There were times that we were at a standstill for 45 minutes or more,” he said. “Many of us would get out to stretch.”

They were stuck on I-40 for seven hours before getting on Route 66 and eventually making it home to Las Vegas on Saturday afternoon, Gallagher said.

The family had stocked up on water bottles that they placed in an insulated bag and had a tank full of gas. Whenever they stopped, they put the sun shade over the front window to help keep cool inside, Gallagher added.

With temperatures well over 100 degrees in the area, fire officials handed out water to some of the stranded drivers.

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