News Release

Hazmat truck fire on CA-190

A NPS park ranger sprays water to extinguish the truck fire.

NPS

News Release Date: May 6, 2024

Contact: Abby Wines, 760-786-3221

DEATH VALLEY, Calif. – A tractor trailer carrying hazardous waste caught on fire in Death Valley National Park on April 26. Park rangers extinguished the fire before it reached the truck’s trailer, preventing a potential release of waste into the park.

The truck’s engine and brakes caught on fire while it was descending 5,000 vertical feet from Towne Pass on CA-190. The fire happened near milepost 83, between Emigrant Junction and Stovepipe Wells.

A National Park Service (NPS) maintenance worker reported the burning truck to park dispatch by radio around 7:00 am. Park rangers responded with a NPS fire engine and prevented the fire from spreading from the tractor to the trailer, which contained sulfuric acid and mixed types of solid low-level hazardous waste. Caltrans staff controlled traffic.

The driver, a 48-year-old man from the Los Angeles area, sustained non-life threatening injuries. Park rangers transported him in an ambulance to Desert View Hospital in Pahrump, NV.

This was the third truck fire on Towne Pass in the past year.