Investigators are continuing to probe what started a fire under the 110 freeway that shut down traffic near the Port of L.A. complex.
All northbound lanes between Channel Street and Harry Bridges Boulevard were still closed Wednesday. The fire, which was first reported Monday around 8:50 p.m., posed serious challenges to firefighters overnight and into the following morning because it was inside an access portal filled with debris, including mattresses.
Caltrans said in a statement Wednesday that there was no timeline for when the northbound lanes would be reopened. Workers have drained the tunnel of the water and foam used to extinguish the fire,and will search it with drones, robots and eventually, people. Caltrans engineers will assess the structural damage and remove debris, the agency said.
While it’s not yet clear what caused the fire, city officials confirmed there was a homeless encampment nearby and firefighters said they saw evidence of an encampment when they arrived at the scene. Mayor Karen Bass’s office said the incident illustrates why she is “determined to end street homelessness, which is often the cause of fires.”
An encampment on a trail near the tunnel has received weekly visits from the Los Angeles Homeless Services Authority, which said its teams usually find about 10 people. The workers have offered the homeless there a variety of services, including emergency motel vouchers during inclement weather and help connecting to state and county services, spokesperson Christopher Yee said in an email.
The last time they visited the encampment, on April 29, the team found six people. The encampment had previously been on private property and moved to its most recent location after the owner performed a cleanup, Yee said.
The fire that shut down the freeway burned inside a 150- to 200-foot long tunnel with one 4-foot by 4-foot entrance and was once used by a local oil refinery that has since closed, according to the California Dept. of Transportation. Firefighters filled it with foam and water to extinguish the stubborn flames.
Councilmember Tim McOsker, who represents the 15th Council District, pinned the blame for the fire on California Department of Transportation in an interview Wednesday, asserting that the agency failed on multiple fronts and has failed to learn from past incidents.
The agency apparently knew there had been an encampment in the tunnel, because they reported previously doing a cleanup there, McOsker said. And yet they did not close the tunnel, he said, nor did they ensure it was free of trash and debris. The agency needs to “assess the entire freeway infrastructure” in L.A. to ensure that this week’s incident, or the 2023 fire that shut down the 10 Freeway fire don’t happen again, McOsker said.
“I need Caltrans to be proactive and take an assessment of their asset,” McOsker said. “Caltrans cannot keep being in a reactive phase and then putting the city in a position of covering up for their failures.”
The 2023 fire that closed the 10 Freeway was driven by pallets stored under the freeway near homeless encampments, all of which Caltrans inspectors had been aware of, The Times previously reported.
On Tuesday, McOsker introduced a motion in City Council that would direct city agencies to report on Caltrans’s responsibility to prevent fires on its property.
On Wednesday, he told The Times he would be introducing another motion stemming from the fire, this time requesting an analysis of what percent of vegetation and rubbish fires occur in Caltrans’ right of way. He said he would also like to know whether Caltrans has an “encampment resolution program” and if not, why.
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