Tesla big-rig fire shuts down I-880 in Hayward

Breaking news on 880, a Tesla big rig bursts into flames in the city of Hayward, shutting down this major interstate for hours. So I'm trying to go to San Leandro. I'm coming from Palo Alto, and I've been on the road for almost two hours. A shelter in place has been ordered for the area due to the potentially toxic smoke fumes in the air. Good evening, everyone. I'm Mike Meebeck. And I'm Claudine Wong. Traffic on 880 has been shut down in the southbound direction since that fire broke out at about six o'clock this evening. Let's give you a live look at the backup now. You can see the red on your screen. Now, this fire broke out just before the southbound Winton Avenue off-ramp right next to the Southland Mall. The northbound lanes of 880 were also shut down for a time, but have since reopened. KTVU's Zach Sauce live tonight at the scene with the very latest on this one. Zach? Yeah, just a real mess right now. Southbound 880 shut down for some four hours right now, as you mentioned, because this is a battery fire. It could take some time for them to get this one out. Putting fires like this one out, a slow methodical process. Take a look. Requiring a steady stream of water for hours to try to keep that battery cool on the cab that you're looking at there because the second you stop, the fire comes right back up. Skyfox overhead earlier shortly after that fire was called in around six this evening here on south the southbound side of interstate 880 the driver of the tesla truck telling firefighters he was behind the wheel when it caught fire he stopped the vehicle ran and it burst into flames other drivers on the road capturing that large response by the hayward fire department which shut down traffic in both directions of interstate 880 as crews work to get this thing out a shelter in place also ordered for nearby neighborhoods due to the toxic smoke blanketing the area take a listen we've had reverse 911 from our dispatch center to all the surrounding neighborhoods to close their windows close their doors because the smoke that is comes off of these fires is very unhealthy big safety risk so as crews put water on the fire the situation causing major backups as you mentioned And right in the middle of rush hour, people trying to get home, stuck in traffic for hours. Others nearby leaving their homes to get away from that smoke. We saw smoke from our house on the other side of the street, or on the other side of the freeway. I came over here, saw the flames, the cab's completely gone. It was terrible. It's been constant traffic, and I didn't know why. And now you routed me to a different route, and I'm stuck here. Yeah, just a real headache for everyone involved, the people who live nearby, the drivers caught up in this backup and of course the firefighters who have been forced to continue putting water on this battery. I asked how long it could take to put this thing out. They said you know some of these battery fires could last upwards of 18 hours. It does seem like they are making some progress but this could potentially affect the morning commute. Back to you. Oh Zach 18 hours that could be a very very long time if it takes that long. So just a couple of questions We still don't know what caused this battery to catch fire. It sounds like the driver just saw it catch fire. And then how long do we think the smoke is going to be affecting residents there? As for the cause of that, this fire, that's still under investigation. The only thing I can tell you is what firefighters have told me after speaking with the driver, which is that he saw flames coming up out of his vehicle. He immediately stopped, got out, which is why you see kind of the truck right in the middle of the road. he didn't really waste any time time pulling over he just got out and ran and then it really erupted into flames as far as the smoke it feels like it has dissipated quite a bit i i can't say i can't say when it will completely clear out but because they have kind of put out some of those flames for the moment uh the smoke is not as bad as it was a little bit earlier and i thought in some of the video i noticed like foam out there on 880 but that traditional fire foam from from what i understand does not work on these battery fires and that's why in this case they're using thousands of gallons of water yeah that's what we've been told they say this is really the best way to get these types of fires out just a continuous steady stream of water on that battery because if you looked in that looked at that some of that chopper video some of the video from viewers the second that they stopped putting that water on the flames just go right back up again so they've been kind of testing it out over the last few hours stopping the water taking a look at the battery to see how cool it is and then putting it right back putting the water stream right back up on it again yeah certainly a situation will continue to monitor all right thank you Zach thanks Zach this is