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The 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles was shut down indefinitely in both directions early Saturday after two wooden pallet yards caught fire, damaging an overpass and destroying several vehicles, including a fire truck, authorities said.
Both westbound and eastbound lanes of the heavily traveled freeway are closed between Alameda Street and Santa Fe Avenue, while structural engineers assess the damage, said Lauren Wonder, a CalTrans spokeswoman.
“As of now, the freeway is shut down indefinitely,” Wonder said. “I would encourage people to avoid this area between the East L.A. interchange and Alameda Street.”
The fire was reported shortly after midnight in the 1700 block of East 14 Street after a pallet yard under the freeway caught fire and spread to a second pallet yard nearby.
The massive fire prompted Californai Highway Patrol to issue a SigAlert and closed the freeway in both directions. Traffic on the eastbound lanes was being diverted at Santa Fe Avenue while traffic on the westbound lanes was being diverted at Alameda Street.
Los Angeles fire officials said firefighters from 26 companies and one helicopter responded to the scene and prevented the fire spreading into nearby commercial buildings. Heavy equipment operators were also used to move debris around and allow firefighters to douse small pockets of fire.
Firefighters douse the still smoldering massive pallet fire that gutted Fire Engine 17, right, which became stuck under the 10 Freeway overpass at 1700 block of East 14th Street on Saturday in Los Angeles.
(Irfan Khan/Los Angeles Times)
The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power also assisted by boosting water pressure in the area to compensate for the high volume needed.
Fire officials said the fire forced several homeless people to evacuate the area but vehicles parked under or near the freeway were damaged or destroyed. Officials said one of those vehicle was a fire engine.
The fire was extinguished as of 10 a.m. but firefighters continue to mop up the area. Caltrans officials also remained on the scene.
Wonder said hazmat teams are waiting on firefighters to finish mopping up the area and will head in to ensure that it’s safe for structural engineers to go in and assess the extent of the damage to the freeway.
“We see what we call ‘concrete spalling,’ which is chips of concrete that come off but we won’t know the extent of the damage until the structural engineers can go in and see if the rebar was burned or not,” she said. “This is still developing.”
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Ruben Vives
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