BREA : Truckload of Oxygen Explodes

A delivery truck and the pressurized oxygen canisters it was carrying exploded on the Orange Freeway, closing all lanes temporarily Friday afternoon but injuring nobody, California Highway Patrol said.

The explosion occurred at noon just after the truck’s driver heard a loud bang from the engine, pulled into the emergency lane on the freeway overpass above Lambert Avenue in Brea, and called police from a nearby call box.

Flames quickly spread to the back of the truck owned by Primedica Home Health Centers in Anaheim, while the driver, Jim Vasquez, stood by and waited for the inevitable explosion.

“You could hear the air escaping the canisters before they exploded,” said Vasquez, who delivers the canisters to some nursing homes in the county. “The flames were pretty much contained inside until they started coming out the roof.”

The blast blew the back door about 50 feet down the street, twisted the door mirrors into a distorted position and reduced the truck to a smoldering shell.

The Brea and Fullerton fire departments fought the flames for about an hour, while the California Highway Patrol diverted motorists in both directions down the off-ramps at Lambert. All northbound traffic and two of the four southbound lanes were reopened after about an hour. Traffic was allowed to resume on the other southbound lanes about 3 p.m. The closures created a traffic jam for Friday afternoon commuters.