The northbound side of heavily-traveled Interstate 15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas has been closed since early Friday morning after a big rig carrying lithium batteries overturned, caught fire and created a chemical hazard.
The single-vehicle crash occurred shortly after 6 a.m. Friday near the Afton Road exit and caused traffic to back up for miles. Traffic has since been rerouted to share the designated southbound lanes of the highway in a stretch between Barstow and Baker in San Bernardino County, the California Highway Patrol said.
Multiple attempts were made to move the truck’s hazardous container from the freeway shoulder to open land using heavy equipment from the San Bernardino County Fire Department, the department said on X Saturday morning.
“However, the container’s weight, exceeding 75,000 pounds, has made these efforts unsuccessful so far,” the department said.
The highway closure is in place because “lithium-ion fires are particularly hazardous due to the chemicals released during off-gassing,” the department said.
The remote location of the accident also created difficulty for emergency responders.
“One of the significant challenges in this remote area is the logistics of transporting equipment, personnel, and water to the scene,” the department said. “This area of the county is very distant from many of our stations … Current traffic conditions have further increased these response times.”
Air quality within the hazardous zone is being monitored, the CHP said.
