I-5 Aftermath

If that's not a vision of Southern California's own kind of hell, I don't know what is.

There's a tunnel behind those flames where roughly 15 big rigs and cars were immolated last night during a heavy rainstorm and subsequent pile-up.

The CHP has I-5 in Newhall Pass closed until further notice. The CHP and Caltrans say they hope to have portions of the affected tunnel re-opened by Tuesday morning. First, they'll have to check the structural integrity of the designated truck tunnel's concrete walls, which became the insides of an impromptu oven as more than a dozen big-rigs cooked off inside the 550-foot long tunnel. As an aside, a quick view of the CHP's CAD today shows the media misbehaving all day while trying to get close to the site.

Just heard LACoFD dispatch some units from the Carson-area to move into the scene up in Newhall. The County is obviously rotating units in and out of the area. Earlier today, there was still active fire suppression going on for smoldering inside the tunnel and they've begun cutting up and hauling away the mess.

As I grimly predicted in my first post last night, three fatalities. Click here for the LA Daily News photo gallery. The LA Times' is here. Thanks to Kevin at LAObserved.com for the link.

photo: LA Daily News