Freeway foul-up

Propane truck fire ruins Mother’s Day commute

SHUTDOWN—Fire crews douse the burning vehicle. Courtesy of VCFD/Caltrans

SHUTDOWN—Fire crews douse the burning vehicle. Courtesy of VCFD/Caltrans

Just as motorists were taking advantage of a soft reopening of the economy and hitting the road to visit moms on Mother’s Day, a propane fire aboard a tractor trailer on the northbound 101 in Thousand Oaks forced a freeway shutdown for much of the day.

The truck containing 500 five-gallon propane tanks became fully engulfed in fire just before Hampshire Road around 5 a.m., the Ventura County Fire Department reported.

VCFD spokesperson Mike DesForges told The Acorn the extended freeway closure was to protect firefighters.

“It was not a typical call at all,” he said. “The driver was safe and we recognized that the only hazard was to the firefighters really. So they backed off to a safe location and used high volume water streams.”

The freeway was closed southbound at Hampshire in T.O. and northbound at Lindero Canyon Road in Westlake Village as firefighters parked their engines on Duesenberg Drive and aimed hoses at the truck crippled on the freeway. Side routes in Agoura Hills, Westlake and T.O. became thick with traffic and presented a new scenario for motorists used to seeing their streets empty due to the coronavirus.

All southbound lanes of the freeway had opened by 1 p.m. It took until 5:30 p.m. to reopen all northbound lanes.

No injuries were reported.

Acorn staff report