Tanker Truck Explodes on Eastbound 91 Freeway!

This is one news story at affected me personally, and in a big way. See, LAT, "Tanker Explodes in Flames on 91 Fwy." And KABC-7 Los Angeles, "Tanker explodes on 91, shuts down freeway":

Firefighters let the tanker rig burn out its 9,000 gallon fuel load. Some drivers were stuck for up to 6 hours. And check the spectacular picture at LAist.

I left my house at about 11:45am. I'm travelling with my two sons. We're staying at my mom's house in Yucca Valley, which is about 40 minutes north of Palm Springs. I'm getting up at 3:00 in the morning to get on the road for Phoenix.

I rarely if ever check traffic reports unless it's been raining. So when we got just past Anaheim Hills heading east on the 91 Freeway a blinking road sign warned drivers to be prepared to stop. Next thing I know I see the Highway Patrol closing down the freeway. I think we got off around Weir Canyon Road and I followed a Highway Patrol cruiser further east until I could see ahead down the freeway. I turned around to get back on the 91 westbound, over to the 57 Freeway north to Interstate 10 east.

Of course, I was really excited to get to my destination, so the thought of being held up for hours in bumper-to-bumper traffic was depressing. That said, the detour wasn't too bad, and I feel a lot better knowing we didn't sit on the 91 for 6 hours.

Thank God no one was hurt.