Photo: Canadian Press
Commuters in Los Angeles will be scrambling to navigate a closed section of Interstate 10 near downtown after a weekend fire damaged an overpass. (AP digital embed)
A massive fire over the weekend was caused by arson, scorching a key section of a Los Angeles freeway and shutting it down indefinitely, causing major traffic headaches for hundreds of thousands of commuters, California officials said Monday. It was announced on .
Gov. Gavin Newsom said investigators are looking into whether more than one person was involved. He did not provide any other details.
“I must emphasize that we have determined the cause of the fire,” Newsom told reporters.
The fire broke out Saturday at two warehouses located under Interstate 10. Construction materials burned rapidly and the fire spread. Many pillars were charred and chipped, and the deck guardrail was left twisted. To ensure the safety of workers removing debris, they reinforced the worst-hit areas. It is still unclear what structural damage, if any, the fire caused to the highway.
Federal officials say the shutdown will be felt far beyond the metropolitan area, including major traffic problems and possible delays in shipping goods from the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. It is expected that this will happen. Ports handle more than half of the goods entering the country. President Joe Biden was briefed on the fire.
“The lives of Angelenos will be disrupted, with disruptions to everything from travel to and from work, to child care plans, to the flow of goods and commerce,” Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass said in a statement. Ta.
Los Angeles residents were urged Monday to avoid traveling to the area and work from home if possible.
“We can’t accommodate 300,000 cars on our roads,” Bass said, referring to how many cars use Interstate 10 every day.
Officials said the damage was reminiscent of the 1994 Northridge earthquake, which flattened a major thoroughfare. After the earthquake, it took him more than two months to repair Interstate 10, which was considered extremely fast.
Newsom said early testing showed the deck “appears to be much stronger than originally rated.” He said concrete and rebar samples taken Monday from the superstructure, deck and columns will help determine “whether to tear this down and replace it.” We are continuing to restore and repair it,” he said.
“This problem isn’t going to go away in days, it’s not going to take years, but it’s going to happen in weeks or months,” Federal Highway Administrator Shailene Butt told The Associated Press. “It’s still too early to tell.” To convey. ”
Butt was involved in a violent accident in which a tractor-trailer transporting gasoline in Philadelphia collapsed on an elevated section of Interstate 95 on June 11, disrupting traffic and damaging area businesses. said it highlights the impact such disasters have on not only a city but a nation.
“The ports will still be open and goods will continue to flow, but removing a portion of the interstate, which carries 300,000 vehicles per day, will have a ripple effect,” Butt said. . “The concern is that the sooner we can resolve this issue, the sooner we can remove the bottleneck.”
The driver was tested Monday during his first weekday commute since the blaze broke out. Drivers were forced to use congested roads to detour around damaged freeways south of downtown, and some freeway exits were clogged.
But traffic was light on some routes, suggesting drivers heeded warnings from the city and made other plans. On Monday, cellphones blared with pre-dawn alerts telling residents to plan alternate routes or expect long delays.
“Our business is just recovering from the coronavirus shutdown. Business is just getting better,” said Blair Besten, L.A.’s Historic Core Business Improvement District director. She worries about the lingering effects of this closure.
The blaze, reported around 12:20 a.m. Saturday, destroyed two warehouses in an industrial area under Interstate 10, leaving behind parked cars, stacks of wooden pallets and high-voltage power lines. The pole was burned down, city Fire Chief Kristin Crowley said. No injuries were reported.
At least 16 homeless people, including a pregnant woman who had been living under the highway, were taken to a shelter. More than 160 firefighters were called to the scene, and the fire spread to 8 acres (3 hectares) and continued to burn for three hours.
Cal Fire Marshal Daniel Berlant said investigators had determined the location and cause of the fire after sorting through the debris for evidence, but he did not say what was found. There is no suspicious information yet. He said he is speaking with witnesses, including the homeless and nearby business owners.
Warehouses beneath highways are common across the state, with lease payments going to public transit agencies. Newsom said the practice will be reevaluated in the wake of the fire.
The governor said the state of California is pursuing a lawsuit with Apex Development Corp., the business owner that leases the storage facility where the fire started. Newsom said the lease had expired and the business was in arrears while illegally subletting the space to five or six other companies. “They haven’t been in compliance for some time, so we’re going to go to court,” he said early next year.
Mainak Dattaley, a lawyer for Apex Development, confirmed that the company is pursuing a lawsuit with the state.
“We are currently conducting our own investigation into what happened in the yard under the freeway. As such, we will not be making any public statements or answering questions until we find out what actually happened.” We are not prepared to do so,” Duttaley said in an email.
Ertugrul Tasiloglu, dean of the UCLA School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, said part of the challenge is the rising cost of real estate.
“Every piece of land is being used, so you can see the pressure and the incentive to use the space under these highways,” he said.
California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin said two contractors were hired to remove hazardous materials and shore up the highway.
Officials said the restoration would require an environmental waiver and federal funding.
In 2011, a fire from a poorly maintained fuel tanker destroyed State Route 60, the main highway connecting Los Angeles to the eastern suburbs, and it took six months and cost $40 million to reopen. .
In 2020, the city and county of Los Angeles agreed to provide housing for about 7,000 people living under freeways and near off-ramps. In approving the agreement, a federal judge noted that unhoused residents in these areas face particularly deadly risks.
