Interstate 5 fully reopened Friday evening near Camp Pendleton, allowing traffic to resume after extensive closures caused by two fires burning on and around the Marine base. The freeway was entirely shut down for roughly five hours on Friday, marking the second consecutive day that fire activity and heavy smoke disrupted travel for motorists and led to the suspension of Amtrak Surfliner trains.
Northbound I-5 reopened around 4:30 p.m., with southbound traffic resuming around 5:15 p.m., after crews finished cleaning flame retardant off the freeway. The 16-mile stretch of freeway affected ran from Vandegrift Boulevard north to Basilone Road along the Marine base.
The primary cause of Friday’s freeway closure was the Scales fire, which ignited around 11 a.m. south of the California Highway Patrol (CHP) freeway checkpoint near San Onofre. The blaze began when a vehicle on a semi-truck vehicle hauler caught fire, with flames quickly spreading to nearby brush, according to CHP. By 5 p.m., the Scales fire had scorched 20 acres, Cal Fire reported. By evening, fire crews had contained the Scales fire and would be monitoring the area for hot spots.
Simultaneously, the Henderson fire on Camp Pendleton remained active and spreading. This fire, which started Thursday near a gun range, had burned 2,080 acres. The Henderson fire had also prompted a full freeway closure for approximately an hour during Thursday’s evening rush hour. Cal Fire reported by mid-morning Friday that the Henderson fire had crossed containment lines on its northwest side, leading to additional resources being called in. After 6 p.m., crews reported 20% containment for the Henderson fire. The cause of the Henderson fire remained under investigation.
The fires led to significant community impacts beyond freeway closures. State parks officers evacuated campers from the nearby San Onofre Beach Campground. Amtrak Surfliner trains were suspended Friday due to heavy smoke and flames. For motorists, the I-5 closure through Camp Pendleton meant Interstate 15 became an alternate route. SigAlert.com reported that northbound traffic on I-15 between Miramar and Murrieta crawled at slower than 15 mph.
Firefighting efforts were compounded by persistent Santa Ana winds. Firefighters tackling the San Onofre incident worked in 95-degree heat, with 25 mph gusts pushing flames to the southwest, said National Weather Service meteorologist Miguel Miller. Higher into the hills, closer to the Henderson fire, gusts reached as high as 44 mph, Miller stated. Some crews initially assigned to the Henderson fire were reassigned to the Scales fire, according to Cal Fire.
Conditions are expected to improve over the weekend. Miller noted that "The wind is still going to be blowing pretty good all evening and all night," but predicted a slow, gradual decrease through Saturday morning.
