A person died early Tuesday morning after a vehicle overturned and caught fire on southbound Interstate 5 just north of State Route 198 near Coalinga.
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 two occupants out of the vehicle and walking around. The reporting party advised the vehicle had front-end and rear-end damage and was possibly involved in a traffic collision. The problem was later changed from a car fire to a fatality at 6:01 a.m., with officers describing it as a solo vehicle fatality.
Logs show the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames by 2:37 a.m. A coroner arrived on scene at 4:57 a.m. and a tow truck was requested for the completely burned vehicle, identified as a blue 2004 GMC Yukon with only the front license plate remaining.
Units arrived on scene starting at 2:37 a.m. and the incident was cleared by 6:01 a.m.
Identities and the cause 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/
