- A car-carrier truck with eight Teslas caught fire on the 5 Freeway in Sylmar
- The Los Angeles Fire Department extinguished the fire by around 9:30 pm on Saturday
- Six of the eight Tesla vehicles on the trailer were damaged by the fire
A car-carrier truck carrying eight Tesla vehicles caught fire in Los Angeles on Saturday. The incident took place on the southbound lanes of the Golden State (5) Freeway in Sylmar at around 5:35 pm.
The Los Angeles Fire Department rushed to the scene and managed to extinguish the fire by around 9:30 pm, according to ABC7.
A video of the blaze, showing black smoke and flames, has been circulating on X.
The footage shows all eight cars on the trailer - six of them burned. The vehicles closest to the truck got exposed to the fire first and sustained the most damage. The cars farther back didn't burn as much.
Traffic was slowed down after the truck was up in flames. Police, firefighters, and other officials were on-site trying to put out the fire, clear debris, and make the road safe for vehicular movement to resume.
Even after the fire was mostly under control, the truck lanes were kept closed for a long time.
LAFD spokesperson Lyndsey Lantz said that the arrival of additional firefighters from the Los Angeles city and county fire departments was delayed due to heavy freeway traffic.
Initially, there were reports that the fire was caused by the lithium-ion batteries that Tesla vehicles come equipped with. They are highly flammable.
However, Tesla VP for Supply Chain Roshan Thomas later clarified in a post that it was the third-party logistics (3PL) semi-truck that caught fire.
He wrote, "Thankfully, the driver is ok; unfortunately, the Teslas sustained damage," adding, "We will be looking to replace the vehicles for our intended customers as soon as we can. A very unfortunate accident."
No injuries have been reported, and the driver managed to escape safely.
