Firefighters and Caltrans on Wednesday, May 6, continued working to clear an access portal underneath the 110 Freeway in San Pedro to assess possible structural damage caused by a fire that started Monday night, May 4, authorities said, with the northbound lanes still shuttered in the area.
When the northbound lanes will reopen was unclear.
Firefighters have a good handle on the fire, Los Angeles Fire Department spokeswoman Lyndsey Lantz said. She had not heard yet that it had been fully extinguished.
Colleen Park, a Caltrans spokeswoman, said Wednesday crews were using vacuum trucks after the tunnel had been filled with water during the firefight.
“They will do a comprehensive search of the tunnel when it’s safe to do so with robots and drones,” Park said.
The fire shut down all lanes of the 110 Freeway Monday night. The southbound lanes reopened Tuesday morning, May 5, after a Caltrans assessment found no structural damage beneath that side of the freeway, but firefighters continued fighting the blaze underneath the northbound lanes.
Los Angeles city firefighters were called to the access tunnel, which holds inactive lines used by the Phillips 66 refinery before it closed in 2025, south of Harry Bridges Boulevard, about 7:50 p.m. Monday night.
The fire was believed to have been started by homeless people, Lantz said.
As of Wednesday morning, no injuries had been reported.
The northbound lanes remained closed from Channel Street to Harry Bridges Boulevard. LAFD was recommending commuters take Gaffey Street northbound from San Pedro to access the freeway at a later point.