Pallet Fire Under I-10 Causes Indefinite Closure

[rickmastfan67]

Looks like they sadly like to set fires under freeways in CA....  Another one today, but thankfully nothing like the I-10 one.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QFgumJ3a7Vo

[Plutonic Panda]

The homeless situation is out of control here. I work delivery GIG apps and this place is such a mess. I've been in two accidents in the last two weeks. Personal car totaled. Rental car totaled. Both other drivers at fault. No license or insurance. Last night I saw a dude light a gas can on fire and threw it in an empty parking lot and then proceed to pick a sword up and attempt to fight the fire by swinging the sword at it. Other than that stuff if were to mention the crap I've been seeing out here lately I don't I could fit in on one page here.

[mgk920]

It looks like CalTrans has determined a rebuild will not be necessary, and it should be open again within a matter of weeks:

https://www.enr.com/articles/57604-caltrans-launches-repairs-to-reopen-fire-damaged-la-freeway

I am interested in what kind of repairs they are going to have to do, given the extensive spalling that is visible in the photos I have seen.  Perhaps they can jacket and grout the columns, similar to an earthquake retrofit?

I friend of mine who lives in the Los Angeles area sent me a message this afternoon telling of news reports that are now saying 3-5 weeks.  IMHO, that IS enough time to remove and replace all of those columns while the decks are in good condition.

Mike

[mgk920]

The homeless situation is out of control here. I work delivery GIG apps and this place is such a mess. I've been in two accidents in the last two weeks. Personal car totaled. Rental car totaled. Both other drivers at fault. No license or insurance. Last night I saw a dude light a gas can on fire and threw it in an empty parking lot and then proceed to pick a sword up and attempt to fight the fire by swinging the sword at it. Other than that stuff if were to mention the crap I've been seeing out here lately I don't I could fit in on one page here.

We can speculate endlessly about what did this, such as a local block gang punishing one those (unhoused) for failing to pay his or her tent rent . . .

The results of the investigation will be very interesting (but may be like pulling teeth to get the truth out in the public domain).

Mike

[Plutonic Panda]

Well the good news is that it shouldn't take long to reopen.

This structure must be pretty old now and nearing the end of its lifespan. I wonder when a full rebuild will happen.

[LilianaUwU]

This structure must be pretty old now and nearing the end of its lifespan. I wonder when a full rebuild will happen.

If California is anything like Québec, they will find a way to make it last another century...

[ZLoth]

The homeless situation is out of control here. I work delivery GIG apps and this place is such a mess. I've been in two accidents in the last two weeks. Personal car totaled. Rental car totaled. Both other drivers at fault. No license or insurance. Last night I saw a dude light a gas can on fire and threw it in an empty parking lot and then proceed to pick a sword up and attempt to fight the fire by swinging the sword at it. Other than that stuff if were to mention the crap I've been seeing out here lately I don't I could fit in on one page here.

While I haven't witnessed some of the more... interesting... events that you described (I lived in Sacramento, not LA or SF), this just confirms the fact that I am very grateful that I escaped Hotel California almost five years ago. When I visited Sacramento last May, I ended up being depressed with multiple friends telling me, "Good to see you. Don't want to move back to California."

[ixnay]

This structure must be pretty old now and nearing the end of its lifespan. I wonder when a full rebuild will happen.

If California is anything like Québec, they will find a way to make it last another century...

By that you mean making it extra extra durable?

[Max Rockatansky]

The Santa Monica Freeway is relatively old, even by Los Angeles Freeway standards.  It was planned as CA 26 and a direct replacement for Olympic Boulevard:

https://www.gribblenation.org/2023/03/california-state-route-6-and-second.html?m=1

[Alps]

What would be nice if they rebuilt it with modern standards and added shoulders.

For a quick rebuild, they will have to use the bridge construction plans they used to build the last incarnation (original plans and any modifications).  Meaning no widenings.

Plus just widening shoulders on a bridge does nothing.

[kkt]

Hit the surface streets.  Not a great option sure, but better than sitting in the inevitable freeway apocalypse.

Please, boss, can I work from home for a while??  At least until traffic patterns and detours settle down a little?

[Max Rockatansky]

Hit the surface streets.  Not a great option sure, but better than sitting in the inevitable freeway apocalypse.

Please, boss, can I work from home for a while??  At least until traffic patterns and detours settle down a little?

Ha, I would imagine that answer is a hard "no" for most.  I spent way too much time in Los Angeles using surface highway detours that Olympic came to mind.

[kkt]

These types already jerk each other off to renderings of the 101 being removed from Hollywood to downtown.

Oh, great.  I really, really, REALLY hope this doesn't end up in the "Road-Geek dreams" thread tomorrow...

Just for comparison, CalTrans managed to get the I-80/I-880/I-980/I-580/24 interchange in Oakland open again pretty quickly after the 2005 tanker fire.

Story and photos that make viaduct look like cheddar cheese that has been under the broiler too long:

https://www.mikesenese.com/DOIT/2012/05/oakland-freeway-tanker-fire-collapse/

[Plutonic Panda]

What would be nice if they rebuilt it with modern standards and added shoulders.

For a quick rebuild, they will have to use the bridge construction plans they used to build the last incarnation (original plans and any modifications).  Meaning no widenings.

Plus just widening shoulders on a bridge does nothing.

Bull fucking shit

[Scott5114]

In addition to pallets, sanitizer accumulated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was stored under the overpass and helped fuel the flames, according to sources familiar with the probe who were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation.

Is it just me or does "wooden pallet and hand sanitizer storage facility catches fire" sound like something out of a sitcom? Did someone have their cache of illegal fireworks and used fryer grease under there too?

[kalvado]

This structure must be pretty old now and nearing the end of its lifespan. I wonder when a full rebuild will happen.

If California is anything like Québec, they will find a way to make it last another century...

Last time I was in Montreal it felt like the city highway system
is  being fully rebuilt....

[ZLoth]

From LA Times via Yahoo News:

Under the 10 Freeway: Immigrant businesses scraped by while landlord dodged Caltrans

For more than a decade, Rudy Serafin showed up to his makeshift office underneath the 10 Freeway as the sun came out and the roar of the morning commute shook the ground below his feet.

With a generator, his cellphone and a portable toilet, the 49-year-old immigrant from Michoacán, Mexico, worked alongside a dozen others operating small businesses in spaces they rented between the concrete columns holding up the interstate. They were mechanics, truckers, garment suppliers, recyclers and pallet distributors, struggling to get by in the region's economy. They paid rent to a Calabasas businessman who leased the land from Caltrans and, according to court records filed by the agency, illegally sublet it to them at far higher rates.

On Saturday, many of the renters' dreams went up in the pallet-fueled inferno that caused such severe damage to the freeway that it is expected to be closed for weeks.

While officials say the cause of the fire was arson, many who worked there, with no fire alarms or sprinklers, say it was a disaster years in the making.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

From Los Angeles Daily News:

Company leasing site of 10 Freeway fire hadn't paid rent in more than a year, illegally subleased spaces
'There needs to be an investigation. Caltrans should move at lightning speed to inspect all of these facilities,' said a local assemblymember

The company leasing the site where the fire started beneath the 10 Freeway hadn't paid rent for a year, was illegally subletting the property to a dozen businesses and appears to have been in violation of safety standards designed to prevent such calamities.

Apex Development of Calabasas last paid rent in September 2022 and owed more than $600,000 to Caltrans, according to court records.

Apex and owner Ahmad Anthony Nowaid rented the property — and three others along the 10 — through California's "airspace" leasing program, which rents out state land under and alongside freeways to fund mass transportation projects.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[kalvado]

From LA Times via Yahoo News:

Under the 10 Freeway: Immigrant businesses scraped by while landlord dodged Caltrans

For more than a decade, Rudy Serafin showed up to his makeshift office underneath the 10 Freeway as the sun came out and the roar of the morning commute shook the ground below his feet.

With a generator, his cellphone and a portable toilet, the 49-year-old immigrant from Michoacán, Mexico, worked alongside a dozen others operating small businesses in spaces they rented between the concrete columns holding up the interstate. They were mechanics, truckers, garment suppliers, recyclers and pallet distributors, struggling to get by in the region's economy. They paid rent to a Calabasas businessman who leased the land from Caltrans and, according to court records filed by the agency, illegally sublet it to them at far higher rates.

On Saturday, many of the renters' dreams went up in the pallet-fueled inferno that caused such severe damage to the freeway that it is expected to be closed for weeks.

While officials say the cause of the fire was arson, many who worked there, with no fire alarms or sprinklers, say it was a disaster years in the making.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

From Los Angeles Daily News:

Company leasing site of 10 Freeway fire hadn't paid rent in more than a year, illegally subleased spaces
'There needs to be an investigation. Caltrans should move at lightning speed to inspect all of these facilities,' said a local assemblymember

The company leasing the site where the fire started beneath the 10 Freeway hadn't paid rent for a year, was illegally subletting the property to a dozen businesses and appears to have been in violation of safety standards designed to prevent such calamities.

Apex Development of Calabasas last paid rent in September 2022 and owed more than $600,000 to Caltrans, according to court records.

Apex and owner Ahmad Anthony Nowaid rented the property — and three others along the 10 — through California's "airspace" leasing program, which rents out state land under and alongside freeways to fund mass transportation projects.

FULL ARTICLE HERE

[Plutonic Panda]

In addition to pallets, sanitizer accumulated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was stored under the overpass and helped fuel the flames, according to sources familiar with the probe who were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation.

Is it just me or does "wooden pallet and hand sanitizer storage facility catches fire" sound like something out of a sitcom? Did someone have their cache of illegal fireworks and used fryer grease under there too?

This whole place is a sitcom come out

[ZLoth]

In addition to pallets, sanitizer accumulated during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic was stored under the overpass and helped fuel the flames, according to sources familiar with the probe who were not authorized to discuss details of the investigation.

Is it just me or does "wooden pallet and hand sanitizer storage facility catches fire" sound like something out of a sitcom? Did someone have their cache of illegal fireworks and used fryer grease under there too?

This whole place is a sitcom come out

At which point does the NTSB comes in as part of this investigation and the investigators does a face palm?

[Max Rockatansky]

I'm more curious to know how much money Caltrans actually makes leasing storage space under elevated freeways?

[GaryV]

I'm more curious to know how much money Caltrans actually makes leasing storage space under elevated freeways?

Probably not enough. Not enough to pay for the repairs. Not enough to even pay insurance to cover such a fiasco, if it could even be obtained at any price.

[kphoger]

I'm more curious to know how much money Caltrans actually makes leasing storage space under elevated freeways?

Probably not enough. Not enough to pay for the repairs. Not enough to even pay insurance to cover such a fiasco, if it could even be obtained at any price.

Still...  if 13 months of unpaid rent equates to more than $600,000...  it really does make you wonder how many such tenants rent space from the Department.

[Quillz]

And now certain people are only going to see the word "immigrant" and now decide exactly what happened and why. When the real issue is the business illegally doing a secondary lease, and the negligence on the part of Caltrans.

[kalvado]

And now certain people are only going to see the word "immigrant" and now decide exactly what happened and why. When the real issue is the business illegally doing a secondary lease, and the negligence on the part of Caltrans.

Secondary lease isn't setting anything on fire, even if it is illegal or overdue.
Makeshift offices under the highway are pretty strange. Flammable storage under the structure, be it pallets or hazardous fluid (70% IPA sanitizer requires placard).. Maybe that's normal, but I doubt that it should be, same as storage in stairwells.
To add insult to injury, all that bullshit  is for public transportation funding?   
UPD: looking at the bridge, at least it concrete on the bottom, no exposed steel. THat probably saved the deck and allowed for some more or less compliant storage. Still, hazmat storage is a bit different story.
Expansion joints may be affected as at least one seem to be over fire.  I wonder how those feel