One person was pronounced dead after a vehicle overturned and caught fire on Interstate 5 southbound just north of State Route 198 near Coalinga early in the morning.
According to California Highway Patrol dispatch logs, the incident was first reported at 2:22 a.m. as a vehicle on fire in the center divider, with reporting parties noting possible involvement in a traffic collision and two occupants out of the vehicle and walking around. Logs indicate the vehicle appeared to have front-end and rear-end damage, and it was fully engulfed in flames by 2:37 a.m. The incident was later updated to a fatality at 6:01 a.m., with authorities describing it as a solo-vehicle fatality; no mentions of ambulance requests or CPR efforts appeared in the logs, but a coroner arrived on scene.
CHP units were assigned starting at 2:23 a.m., with the first arriving at 2:37 a.m. and others at 2:38 a.m. and 2:45 a.m.
Logs show a rotation tow truck was notified at 4:58 a.m. for a complete vehicle burn, and evidence was noted including a 2004 blue GMC Yukon with only the front license plate remaining, no longer attached to the vehicle, under vehicle code for altered or missing identification.
The incident was turned over to Cal Fire, which arrived on scene shortly after the initial reports.
Units cleared the scene between 5:08 a.m. and 6:01 a.m.
Identities of those involved and the cause of the crash were not immediately available in the logs.
The CHP recorded the crash at GPS coordinates: 36.257907 -120.246414
Sources:
– CHP CAD incident viewer: https://cad.chp.ca.gov/
