BRIEFLY IN THE NEWS No on...

BRIEFLY IN

THE NEWS

No on injured in freeway car fire

No one was injured in a car fire that broke out on the

transitional ramp connecting the San Diego and Costa Mesa freeways

Thursday morning, officials said.

A couple that was traveling in a 1989 Eagle at about 11:05 a.m.

Thursday had no clue their car was on fire, said Costa Mesa Fire

Capt. Randy Hicks.

“People driving on the freeway yelled out to them saying their car

was on fire,” he said.

The man then quickly pulled over, jumped out of the car and took

out his wife’s wheelchair, Hicks said.

“A passerby helped him get his wife out of the car and on to the

wheelchair,” he said.

Firefighters, who arrived shortly thereafter, were able to put out

the fire in about 10 minutes, Hicks said. The car was engulfed in

flames when they got there and most of the car was burned when they

were done, he said.

Hicks said the exact cause of the fire is not known, but that it

was probably caused by a mechanical failure in the engine.

Truck crash backs up freeway traffic

Traffic was backed up for miles on the northbound San Diego

Freeway at Bristol Street in Costa Mesa on Friday morning after a box

truck crashed into the center divider and overturned, blocking the

carpool lane, officials said.

The accident happened at about 10:30 a.m. A SigAlert was issued

shortly after and lasted about two hours, said California Highway

Patrol Officer Mark Reeves. The driver of the truck, whose name was

not released, suffered only minor injuries and was treated at the

scene, he said. No other vehicles were involved in the crash.

Officials also said traffic was backed up on the southbound San

Diego Freeway as a result of debris from the shattered divider being

strewn around. The cause of the crash is still under investigation,

Reeves said.

-- Deepa Bharath