Interstate 15 Reopens After Cajon Pass Fire

Photo courtesy of the San Bernardino County Fire Department

By City News Service

The freeway from Las Vegas to the Inland Empire reopened after midnight Saturday, when the hulks of burned cars and trucks were scraped away and Caltrans officials gave the all-clear for the scorched concrete.

Interstate 15 in Cajon Pass was the site of near-panic and great fear Friday afternoon, as dozens of motorists ran for their lives from a sudden and fast-moving brushfire.

The blaze hit along the southbound 15 freeway south of the Cajon summit, at a location where the northbound lanes are separated by a quarter-mile median choked with bushes and shrubs that are tinder dry after years of drought.

The freeway was closed, sending what is usually four lanes of heavy traffic onto much smaller roads across the High Desert.

Gas lines were long and “people are looking for food and a place to sleep” at the isolated desert crossroads of Kramer Junction, 40 miles west of Barstow on state Route 58 and U.S. 395, said one driver, Jim Toten of Torrance.

Terri Kasinga, a spokeswoman for Caltrans District 8 in San Bernardino, said the concrete pavement that was scorched had just bee laid several months ago, part of a massive Cajon Pass repaving project.

Kasinga said that the new cement paving was still curing, and thus more- susceptible to fire damage.

The fire itself was north of where two crossover lanes were installed, and half of the northbound 15 freeway traffic shifted over to southbound lanes, as the repaving project moves south. That lane shift happened just hours before the fire broke out.

Traffic was largely back to normal Saturday morning, with a crash blocking the northbound crossover lanes for more than an hour.

One of the four southbound lanes over Cajon Pass, at the fire scene, was blocked for firefighters and repair crews Saturday, Caltrans and CHP officials said.