Interstate 5 Lanes Are Open — Emigrant fire 75% contained

  • On Friday, Sept. 17 the Emigrant fire east of Pyramid Lake near the Vista del Lago exit exploded from a one-acre truck fire to 255 acres that affected traffic through the weekend. Traffic is now flowing normally. Commuter Katherine King of PMC sent this image from 3 p.m. Friday.

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    On Friday, Sept. 17 the Emigrant fire east of Pyramid Lake near the Vista del Lago exit exploded from a one-acre truck fire to 255 acres that affected traffic through the weekend. Traffic is now flowing normally. Commuter Katherine King of PMC sent this image from 3 p.m. Friday.

  • SigAlert.com reports that the northbound lanes on Interstate 5 from Templin Highway to Vista del Lago (Pyramid Lake), about an 8 mile backup. SigAlert cautions the fire may cause major traffic slowing in that area.

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    SigAlert.com reports that the northbound lanes on Interstate 5 from Templin Highway to Vista del Lago (Pyramid Lake), about an 8 mile backup. SigAlert cautions the fire may cause major traffic slowing in that area.

UPDATE—FRAZIER PARK, CA (Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021 at 11 p.m.)—The Emigrant fire is now 80%

UPDATE—FRAZIER PARK, CA (Wednesday, Sept. 22, 2021 at 8 a.m.)—Traffic remains normal on the Interstate 5 near Pyramid Lake and Templin Highway. Firefighters from Los Angeles County and the Angeles National Forest are handling both the Emigrant fire and Route fire hotspots. The Emigrant fire that began Friday, Sept. 17 near  Vista Del Lago with a tractor-trailer big rig fire is now 75% contained.

UPDATE—FRAZIER PARK, CA (Tuesday, Sept. 21, 2021 at 6 a.m.)—The Interstate 5 is clear. Firefighters are still battling the Emigrant fire in the Angeles National Forest that started Friday afternoon with an overheated big rig that quickly leapt to hundreds of acres of fire that slowed northbound traffic to a crawl in the Pyramid Lake area (at the Vista Del Lago exit) back to Templin Highway through much of the weekend—sometimes backing up 8 miles of traffic to 11 mph.

UPDATE—FRAZIER PARK, CA (Monday, Sept. 20, 2021 at 6 a.m.)—Interstate-5 traffic is moving normally through the Emigrant fire area. The blockages near Templin Highway stopping or slowing traffic intermittently since Friday afternoon through part of the weekend now appear cleared. The fire is not yet 100% contained, so there is concern about Santa Ana winds. For the moment, all is clear.

UPDATE—FRAZIER PARK, CA (Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021 at 2:52 p.m.)— The Emigrant fire is now 255 acres and is 50% contained. Traffic is moving at normal speeds, according to Sigalert.com.

UPDATE—FRAZIER PARK, CA (Sunday, Sept. 19, 2021 at 8 a.m.)—The Emigrant fire (named after a Pyramid Lake area) was slowing southbound traffic in the Templin Highway area earlier this morning (to about 23 mph according to Sigalert.com) but it has now returned to about 58 mph. Traffic in northbound lanes is flowing normally. Calfire reports it is no longer commanding the firefighting effort. It is a Los Angeles County Fire Department and Angeles National Forest event now.

FRAZIER PARK, CA (Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021 at 6 a.m.)—Northbound lanes are open and traffic has returned to normal after transit was blocked for over 8 hours. The southbound offramp at Vista del Lago is still closed. See photos, details and significance of this second major blockage of I-5 within six days in next week’s issue of The Mountain Enterprise

FRAZIER PARK, CA (Friday, Sept. 17, 2021 at 10:40 p.m.)— Traffic is still slow on the Interstate 5 northbound between Templin Highway and Hungry Valley Road.

FRAZIER PARK, CA (Friday, Sept. 17, 2021 at 8:20 p.m.)—At Pyramid Lake, Sigalert.com reports right lane blocked on I-5 North at Vista Del Lago Road, backed up south to Templin Highway—an estimated 8-mile back-up on Northbound 5. Congestion: Stopped traffic. Expect delays up to 2 hours.

FRAZIER PARK, CA (Friday, Sept. 17, 2021 at 3:32 p.m.)—The Emigrant fire is now reported to be 180 acres and zero percent contained, burning on Angeles National Forest land.

FRAZIER PARK, CA (Friday, Sept. 17, 2021 at 3:15 p.m.)—At 3:10 p.m., the fire was reported to be 100 acres and zero percent contained.

FRAZIER PARK, CA (Friday, Sept. 17, 2021 at 2:15 p.m.)—A big rig tractor-trailer fire burning up a hillside through chaparral near Vista Del Lago Road (Pyramid Lake) has caused California Highway Patrol to close the #3 and #4 lanes on the northbound side of Interstate 5. The brush fire started at approximately 1:30 p.m., according to CHP.

This is part of the September 17, 2021 online edition of The Mountain Enterprise.

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