Highway 24 Reopens After Vehicle Fire Closed Part of Caldecott Tunnel

A vehicle fire in one of the two eastbound bores of the Caldecott Tunnel closed Highway 24 from Oakland into Orinda for hours on Tuesday.

No injuries were reported in the incident, which reportedly involved a pickup truck, and was first reported to the California Highway Patrol about 9:50 a.m.

Caltrans reopened the No. 1, right-hand bore of the tunnel shortly before 11 a.m. The No. 2 bore, where the fire broke out, reopened by 12:45 p.m. after crews cleared wreckage and assessed damage, the agency said.

CHP and Caltrans crews helped 20 to 30 vehicles stranded in the tunnel behind the fire turn around and exit. Efforts to clear the scene were delayed because the vehicle involved in the fire was too badly damaged for a tow truck to remove.

The Caldecott Tunnel was the scene of one of the Bay Area’s deadliest traffic disasters in the early morning hours of April 7, 1982.

Shortly after midnight on that date, an eastbound gasoline tanker truck hit a car stopped in the No. 3 bore and then exploded. Seven people, including an AC Transit bus driver, were killed. The incident led to new restrictions for transporting hazardous materials through the state’s highway tunnels.

In March 2015, dozens of eastbound drivers were forced to abandon their cars in the No. 1 bore after a series of crashes and a car fire.