A vehicle fire on Interstate 5 southbound just north of State Route 198 in the Coalinga area left one person dead early in the morning.
According to California Highway Patrol dispatch logs, the incident was first reported at 2:21 a.m. as a car fire in the center divider, with the reporting party advising that two occupants were out of the vehicle and walking around. The logs note the vehicle appeared to have front-end and rear-end damage and was possibly involved in a traffic collision. The call was transferred to Cal Fire, which arrived on scene. At 6:01 a.m., the incident was updated from a car fire to a fatality, described as a solo vehicle fatality.
Logs show the vehicle was fully engulfed in flames by 2:37 a.m. south of State Route 145. CHP units arrived on scene starting at 2:37 a.m., with the coroner arriving at 4:57 a.m. A tow truck was requested for the completely burned vehicle, identified as a blue 2004 GMC Yukon with only the front license plate attached, and it was towed under Vehicle Code section 22651(g) for being disabled.
CHP units cleared the scene 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/
