A vehicle fire on southbound Interstate 5 just north of State Route 198 near Coalinga left one person dead early in the morning.
California Highway Patrol dispatch logs reported the incident at 2:21 a.m., initially as a car fire before updating it to a fatality. Logs indicated a single-vehicle crash with one person pronounced dead, and noted the coroner arrived on scene to handle the death investigation. No requests for ambulances or CPR efforts appeared in the logs.
The vehicle, described as a blue 2004 GMC Yukon with front-end and rear-end damage, overturned in the center divider and became fully engulfed in flames. Two occupants were initially reported as out of the vehicle and walking around, but the incident was later classified as a solo-vehicle fatality.
CHP units arrived on scene starting at 2:37 a.m. and cleared the area by 6:01 a.m. A tow truck was requested for the completely burned vehicle.
Cal Fire was notified and responded to the scene.
The identities of those involved and the cause of the crash were not immediately available.
The CHP recorded the crash at GPS coordinates: 36.257907 -120.246414
Sources:
– CHP CAD incident viewer: https://cad.chp.ca.gov/
