Big Rig Crash, Flames Snarl the 405

A big rig whose driver braked to avoid stopped traffic smashed into the center divider of the San Diego Freeway in Costa Mesa on Thursday, sending chunks of concrete flying into lanes and briefly closing the highway in both directions at the height of the evening commute.

As the big rig began to catch fire, Roger Alegria, 35, of Torrance had to jump out the passenger window because his driver’s-side door was stuck, he said. Moments later, the tractor exploded in flames, he and eyewitnesses said.

Only minor injuries were reported by motorists who swerved to avoid the truck and flying debris, according to the California Highway Patrol. But the accident, at about 5:10 p.m., blocked all lanes in both directions for about 20 minutes before lanes were reopened selectively. Traffic was backed up for at least several miles in both directions near Harbor Boulevard -- for southbound travelers, the backup started as far away as the San Gabriel River Freeway. Late into the evening, some southbound lanes remained closed.

“It was miraculous that no one was seriously injured,” said CHP Officer Katrina Lundgren, “and pretty amazing that he was empty and wasn’t carrying a load of hazardous materials.”

The CHP routed southbound traffic to the Euclid Street exit, thus clogging surface streets in Fountain Valley and Costa Mesa.

Larry Floyd of San Diego was among the frustrated thousands, needing more than an hour to move a quarter of a mile to exit the freeway. “I don’t know why they just didn’t open some lanes up and let us go through there,” said Floyd, who was behind the wheel of a motor home. “How do I get back on the freeway from here?”

Antonio Jose Mendez, driving from Los Angeles to San Diego, took the inconvenience in stride: “The wait was longer than an hour, but when I saw what happened, I understood.”

As Mendez passed the wrecked rig, he said, he saw its trailer, which blocked at least three southbound lanes. The impact, which caused the tractor’s diesel fuel tank to erupt, forced firefighters to use foam, rather than water.

“Costa Mesa doesn’t have a unit that can pour foam yet. We’re expecting one in two months. So we had to ask for assistance from Fountain Valley,” said Costa Mesa Battalion Chief Scott Broussard. “Because of rubber, plastics and other materials in the truck, it took us about 25 minutes to put out.”

About 90 gallons of diesel was in the tank when it erupted, Broussard said.

Employees on the third floor of a nearby office building got a bird’s-eye view of the accident, including Alegria’s leap to safety.

“It looked like the driver was cut off by a car and he braked, sending up clouds of smoke from his tires,” said Travis Whiteside, 23. “The rig then jackknifed and hit the concrete divider.”

Whiteside said other workers in the building noticed lots of smoke but no flames. Several of them ran from the building and leaped over a freeway wall to help the driver get out. About 30 to 45 seconds ticked by, he said, then they saw the driver jump from the window.

Alegria said he drives for Ocean Cargo in Wilmington, where he’s worked for six months.

He usually drives the Long Beach Freeway, hauling recycled goods such as crumpled metal, plastics and cardboard from the Commerce area to the Long Beach harbor. He was on his maiden trip hauling an empty trailer from the harbor to San Diego to bring back a load of recycled items when the accident occurred.

“I was traveling about 35 mph, going slow,” Alegria said in Spanish. “But there was an opening in the traffic and I speeded up. I came up on traffic that was stopped and I just slammed on my brakes and turned the wheel.”

Pointing to his smoldering truck, he said, “My driver’s license, my Social Security, all my truck papers were inside the cab.”

With no one cited, the crash was still under investigation.