LOS ANGELES – Arson was the cause of a massive fire over the weekend that charred and indefinitely closed a vital section of a Los Angeles freeway, causing major traffic headaches for hundreds of thousands of commuters, police said Monday. California authorities.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said investigators were trying to determine if one or more people were involved. He gave no other details.
“I must emphasize that we have determined what started the fire,” Newsom told reporters.
The fire broke out Saturday in two storage lots under Interstate 10.
The building materials burned quickly and the fire grew. It left many charred and splintered columns and twisted deck railings.
Crews shored up the most damaged section for the safety of workers clearing the debris. It is still unclear what, if any, structural damage the highway fire caused.
Beyond a massive traffic headache, the shutdown is expected to be felt far beyond the metropolis, including a possible slowdown in freight transportation from the twin ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, federal officials said.
Ports handle more than half of the goods entering the country. President Joe Biden had been briefed about the fire.
“It’s disruptive in every way, whether it’s travel to and from work or your child care plans and the flow of goods and commerce, this will disrupt the lives of Angelenos,” said the Los Angeles mayor. , Karen Bass.
Traffic is congested beneath a closed Interstate 10 after the fire.AP
Los Angeles residents were urged to avoid traveling to the area on Monday and work from home if possible.
“Our streets can’t handle 300,000 cars,” Bass said, referring to how many vehicles use the stretch of I-10 daily.
Officials have said the damage is reminiscent of the 1994 Northridge earthquake that leveled streets. After the earthquake, it took more than two months to repair Interstate 10, and that was considered significantly fast.
Newsom said early testing shows the platform “appears to be much more resilient than originally evaluated.” Concrete and rebar samples taken Monday from the superstructure, decks and columns will help determine “whether we’re going to tear it down and replace it or continue with salvage and repairs,” he said.
The fire occurred early in the morning along I-10 near downtown Los Angeles on Saturday. November 11th. California Governor Gavin Newsom declared a state of emergency to repair structural damage to the overpass.AP
“This is not going to be solved in a couple of days and it’s not going to take a couple of years,” Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt told The Associated Press. “But whether it’s weeks or months, it’s still too early to tell.”
Bhatt said the violent June 11 crash of a tractor-trailer hauling gasoline in Philadelphia, which collapsed an elevated section of Interstate 95, snarling traffic and damaging area businesses, highlights the impact of such disasters not only on a city but in the nation.
“The ports are still open and goods will continue to flow, but when you remove a section of interstate that carries 300,000 vehicles a day, there will be indirect impacts,” Bhatt said. “The concern is that the faster we can open this, the faster we can remove an impediment.”
Drivers were tested Monday during the first weekday trip since the fire. Some highway exits were blocked as drivers were forced to use busy streets to avoid the damaged stretch of highway south of the city center.
Some routes, however, had less traffic, suggesting that drivers heeded the city’s warnings to make alternative plans. Cellphones rang Monday with a predawn reminder for residents to plan different routes or expect major delays.
“Our businesses are just recovering from the Covid closures. Business was starting to pick up,” said Blair Besten, director of the Historic Downtown Los Angeles business improvement district. He is concerned about the lingering effects of this closure.
Flames reported around 12:20 a.m. Saturday swept through two storage lots in an industrial area under I-10, burning parked cars, stacks of wooden pallets and support poles for high-voltage power lines, the police said. City Fire Chief Kristin Crowley.
No injuries were reported.
At least 16 homeless people, including a pregnant woman, living under the freeway were moved to shelters. More than 160 firefighters responded to the fire, which spanned 8 acres (3 hectares) and burned for three hours.
California Fire Chief Daniel Berlant said investigators identified where the fire started and what the cause was after searching through the rubble for evidence, but did not specify what they found.
He said there is no suspicious information yet. She said they are talking to witnesses, including homeless people and nearby business owners.
The fire location is shown below Interstate 10.AP
Storage yards under highways are common throughout the state, and money from leases goes toward public transportation. Newsom said the practice would be reevaluated after the fire.
The governor said California has been in litigation with Apex Development, Inc., the owner of the company that leases the storage property where the fire started.
The lease expired, Newsom said, and the company had been in default by illegally subleasing the space to five or six other entities. “They’ve been non-compliant for some time, which is why we’re going to go to court” early next year, he said.
Mainak D’Attaray, an attorney for Apex Development, confirmed that the company was in litigation with the state.
“We are currently investigating for ourselves what happened in the yard under the highway. As such, we are not prepared to give an official statement or answer questions until we have determined what actually occurred,” D’Attaray said in an email.
Los Angeles firefighters work to clean up the industrial zone and surrounding areas on Nov. 11, 2023.AP
Ertugrul Taciroglu, chair of the civil and environmental engineering department at the University of California, Los Angeles, said part of the challenge is how expensive real estate has become.
“Every piece of land is being used, so I can see the pressure or incentives to make use of these spaces under these roads,” he said.
Two contractors were hired to clean up the hazardous material and shore up the freeway, according to California Transportation Secretary Toks Omishakin.
Repairs will require environmental waivers and federal funds, officials said.
In 2011, a fire caused by a dilapidated fuel tanker that burst into flames damaged a stretch of State Route 60 (a key highway connecting Los Angeles to its eastern suburbs) and took six months to reopen at a cost of 40 million dollars.
In 2020, the city and county of Los Angeles agreed to provide housing for nearly 7,000 people living under freeways and near on- and off-ramps.
In approving the settlement, a federal judge said unhoused residents in those areas face particularly deadly dangers.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn