KHTS Radio Santa Clarita Radio – Santa Clarita News
A big rig fire near the 5 Freeway north of Castaic has spread to the surrounding brush Monday afternoon, officials said.
At about 12:25 p.m. Monday, first responders received a report of a vehicle fire on the northbound 5 Freeway north of Templin Highway, according to Inspector Narvaez with the Los Angeles County Fire Department.
“It was an 18 wheeler that caught fire,” Narvaez said. “There was some spread into the brush.”
The fire extended to about a 10-by-10-foot spot before being extinguished, according to Narvaez.
“Because of the weather, we don’t anticipate any further spread,” Narvaez said.
The blaze was dubbed the Whitaker Fire by the Angeles National Forrest (ANF) Fire Service, according to Fire officials
California Highway Patrol officers responded to the fire, with traffic backed up in the area on the northbound 5 Freeway, according to CHP officials.
The No. 3 and 4 lanes are blocked for an unknown duration as of 12:50 p.m. Monday, according to CHP logs.
Ed. Note: This is a breaking news story, more information will be added as it becomes available.
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This massive (10 x 10 foot) blaze will forever be remembered as the Whitaker Fire.
What a senseless waste of a perfectly good name by ‘dubbing’ a near non-event!
We demand better (yawn).
Mr. Denny:
It wasn’t named because of the patch of brush, but rather the amount of apparatus response to the tractor trailer fire, which included engines, water tender and a battalion chief for this incident. But I’m guessing you already knew that.
For us in the fire service, names of incident large or small, help us identify them easier than out long incident number assigned to every response weather medical or fire, but I’m guessing you knew that also.
Tractor trailer fires burn hot and nasty with smells of plastic, metals and whatever is in the trailer.
By the way, it isn’t a waste of perfectly good name, for a real event, which messed up traffic on the 5 north for hours.
I too thank you for the information.
And I think you know my post was in jest.
Thanks for replying Craig. I have always wondered why they named all the fires. Now I know.