A vehicle crashed and caught fire on southbound Interstate 5 just north of State Route 198 near Coalinga early Tuesday, leaving one person dead.
California Highway Patrol dispatch logs show the incident was reported at 2:21 a.m. as a vehicle on fire in the center divider. The reporting party initially said two occupants were out of the vehicle and walking around, but logs later noted it was a single-vehicle fatality. A coroner arrived on scene, and the problem was updated from a car fire to a fatality at 6:01 a.m.
Logs indicate the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames, with front-end and rear-end damage, and appeared to have overturned in the center divider. CHP units were assigned at 2:23 a.m., with the first arriving at 2:37 a.m. A tow truck was requested for the completely burned vehicle, described as a blue 2004 GMC Yukon with only a front license plate remaining, which was towed as a disabled vehicle.
The coroner was on scene by 4:57 a.m., and units cleared the area by 6:01 a.m. 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/
