‘Cooking’ Load of Chemicals Shuts Down I-5

A “cooking” load of chemicals aboard a truck heading to a toxic waste facility north of Bakersfield shut down 10 miles of Interstate 5 for more than seven hours Friday night, backing up trucks and holiday-bound motorists, officials said.

The California Highway Patrol and Kern County firefighters said the 18-wheeler was hauling hazardous substances, including zinc sulfide, arsenic, cobalt, nickel and alumina, when CHP officers noticed smoke or vapor coming from the double tanker, said fire dispatcher John Rosso.

“There was a reaction between 12 different hazardous materials they were hauling,” said CHP dispatcher Dan Miller. “They got mixed and started cooking and fuming.”

Officials shut down the busy stretch of freeway through the “real rural area,” said Miller, and summoned a vacuum truck from a waste disposal site in the Kettleman Hills northwest of Bakersfield to pump out the truck, said Rosso. They believe the truck came from a Mobil Oil facility in Torrance, he said.

No one became ill but “we had a real traffic problem,” said Miller.

Northbound lanes were opened shortly after 9 p.m., and southbound lanes were expected to open shortly thereafter, but hundreds of motorists were cooling their heels.

A roadside Denny’s restaurant not far from the detour point “looks like a madhouse,” said manager Helen Wheeler of the crowd delayed by the mess. She peered out the window at the freeway and added, “I can’t even see the end of the traffic backup.”