Trash fire in 110 Freeway tunnel renews Caltrans questions

Once again, a major freeway has been closed due to a fire — and once again, local officials are questioning how Caltrans could allow this to happen.

This time, it was a large drainage tunnel filled with stuff left by homeless persons. The tunnel is just north of the L.A. Harbor on the 110 freeway. It remains closed today due to possible structural damage to the concrete.

It burned yesterday morning, tons of junk burning in an intense blaze. Fire crews filled the tunnel with 150,000 gallons of water Tuesday and are working to drain the area and assess damage. Northbound lanes out of the port remain closed.

Fire officials do not know if there were any victims trapped inside.

This is not the first time that a major preventable fire has closed a freeway. In 2023, the 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles was closed for eight days when a homeless camp and illegal pallet storage yard caught fire. A decade ago, untrimmed brush next to the 5 Freeway near the Grapevine caught fire, destroying the wooden structures that held up the freeway. The brush next to the freeway had not been trimmed in years.

And in Pacific Palisades, emergency repairs are underway on wooden hillside supports above PCH that have been questionable for decades.

Caltrans has had a series of fires under, next to, or above major routes. These fires have caused major traffic disruptions.

A Los Angeles city councilman is asking for an investigation into this freeway fire — the one in San Pedro.