Southbound I-5 closed near Alger for 6 hours. ‘It was a real mess out there’
Both lanes of southbound Interstate 5 near Alger were closed for nearly six hours and down to one lane for another three hours for cleanup after a tractor trailer burst into flames late Thursday.
The freeway was fully reopened at approximately 6 a.m. Friday, Washington State Trooper Heather Axtman told The Bellingham Herald in an interview Friday. At around 9:02 p.m. Thursday, the southbound semi driver pulled over after one of the trailer tires caught fire just north of the Bow Hill exit.
“Sounds like that spread to the trailer, and then the trailer was fully engulfed and then the cab,” Axtman told the Herald. “It was carrying pallets, which didn’t help the whole fire situation.”
Video captured by Kenneth James Ableman and posted to Facebook as he drove past the truck in the northbound lanes showed the truck consumed in flames.
Fire crews from Skagit County, along with assistance from Whatcom County Fire District 18 crews, managed to get the fire out, according to the Pulse Point app.
Axtman said the Department of Ecology and Washington State Department of Transportation were notified of the potential of a diesel spill, and the left lane reopened at 10:53 p.m.
But that lane also had to be closed again at approximately 2 a.m. when efforts to remove the trailer showed the trailer was more unstable than anticipated, said Axtman. A dump truck had to be brought to the scene to haul away all the burned debris.
“It sounds like it was a real mess out there,” Axtman told The Herald.
Traffic was routed around the closure using Highway 99 and Axtman said nobody was injured.
This story was originally published December 14, 2018 at 9:14 AM.
