605 Freeway Shut 15 Hours by Truck Fire

Nearly 7 miles of the 605 Freeway were closed in both directions for nearly 15 hours Thursday after a propane tanker truck jackknifed and erupted into flames on an Irwindale offramp, causing massive traffic tie-ups for hundreds of thousands of drivers.

Firefighters considered the flaming truck too dangerous to approach, so they watched from half a mile away while the fire burned itself out.

“In order to protect the public from any danger, this is what we had to do,” said Steve McGrath, public affairs officer in the Baldwin Park office of the California Highway Patrol. “If that tanker had exploded, it would have been like a giant hand grenade. Metal would have gone in every direction.”

The truck driver, Dan Meadows of Lake Isabella, was pulled to safety by another trucker just before the escaping propane fumes burst into flames, McGrath said. Meadows, who suffered a broken arm, apparently fell asleep at the wheel about 2:25 a.m. as he was driving north on the freeway near the Live Oak Avenue overpass, McGrath said. No other injuries were reported.

All lanes of the 605 were closed between the 10 and 210 freeways until 5 p.m. Thursday, when the southbound lanes were opened. Northbound lanes were opened an hour later, but the northbound off-ramp to Live Oak Avenue was to remain shut throughout the night.

Traffic was backed up more than 7 miles on the 10 and the 605 freeways during the morning rush hour, and nearby surface streets were clogged with cars diverted from the freeway. An estimated 110,000 drivers travel that portion of the 605 every day, McGrath said, and another 400,000 use the 605, 10 and 210 interchanges in that area.

McGrath said the closing was one of the longest ever on that stretch of the 605.

Flames shot 85 to 90 feet into the sky after the accident. The fire burned steadily until 4:15 p.m. A safety valve vented the propane from the tank, reducing pressure that could have caused an explosion.

Had firefighters approached the tanker to douse the flames, they would have been exposed to the constantly escaping fumes and the danger of explosion, McGrath said.

Meadows, 54, was taken to Terrace Plaza Medical Center in Baldwin Park, where he was listed in stable condition after undergoing surgery for a compound fracture of his arm.