Palermo, CA : Highway 70 Reopened After Big Rig Crash Thursday evening on July 31, 2014

A tractor trailer spilled hundreds of fruit cans after it crashed and caught fire around 7 p.m. on Highway 70, shutting down a section of the roadway for several hours.It has reopened.

The highway was closed between East Palermo Road and Power House Hill Road, with California Highway Patrol officers guiding drivers in a detour around the scorched wreckage of the tractor trailer. The road was still closed at 10 p.m.

The fire destroyed the cab of the tractor trailer, but not before the driver was able to safely escape with only minor injuries, said CHP officer Justin Wallace. Investigators are unsure how the driver lost control, but Wallace said he swerved and rolled the tractor trailer over while going southbound on Highway 70 with a load of canned fruit bound for Lathrop, in San Joaquin County.

No other vehicles were involved in the wreck, Wallace said.

The fire from the burning wreck ignited brush on the side of the highway, Wallace said. Cal Fire-Butte County firefighters were able to extinguish the flames in about 15 minutes. The fire spread no more than about 100 feet from the roadside.

Source :
Update: Highway 70 near Palermo reopens