Dec. 23—A minivan caught fire inside the Caldecott Tunnel during Monday morning commute hours, officials said.
Witnesses called emergency crews at approximately 9:53 a.m. to report a car engulfed in flames on the eastbound lanes of Highway 24, inside the tunnel’s Bore 1, Adib Zeid, a spokesperson for the California Highway Patrol, told SFGATE. One caller said they believe the fire was related to a vehicle collision, but officials have not been able to confirm whether a crash occurred, Zeid said.
The fire was extinguished just after 11 a.m., Michael Hunt, a spokesperson for the Oakland Fire Department, told SFGATE. Caltrans crews also began towing the minivan out of the bore at approximately 11:19 a.m., the fire department said in an update on X.
The fire closed all eastbound lanes and both bores for several minutes. The left bore opened at approximately 10:36 a.m., according to CHP, and the right bore was still closed as of 11:30 a.m., Zeid said.
No one was injured in the fire, and the minivan driver is believed to have been rescued by a driver who picked them up and drove them to the east end of the tunnel, he said. Although there was no structural damage to the tunnel, Hunt said vehicle fires in narrow spaces are dangerous.
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“Anytime you have a fire that’s in a confined space like a tunnel, it can be obviously very hazardous for other drivers that are entering and exiting the tunnel or passing through it,” he said. “It can also can cause hazards for vehicles that are approaching the tunnel because they don’t actually know what they’re driving into.”
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