I-90 closes for vehicle fire
JOEL MARTIN | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 3 years, 2 months AGO
A vehicle fire closed I-90 between Ryegrass and the Vantage Bridge Monday afternoon.
Courtesy photo/Washington State Patrol
Joel Martin has been with the Columbia Basin Herald for more than 25 years in a variety of roles and is the most-tenured employee in the building. Martin is a married father of eight and enjoys spending time with his children and his wife, Christina. He is passionate about the paper’s mission of informing the people of the Columbia Basin because he knows it is important to record the history of the communities the publication serves. | July 24, 2023 5:34 PM
VANTAGE — A vehicle fire closed down Interstate 90 just west of Vantage on Monday, according to the Washington State Patrol.
A semi traveling westbound near the Ryegrass summit caught fire a little after 1 p.m., according to the National Interagency Fire Center. The cause of the fire may have been electrical, said Trooper Jeremy Weber, spokesman for the Washington State Patrol, but the cause hasn’t yet been ascertained. The driver, who was alone in the vehicle, was able to get out safely, Weber added.
By 3 p.m. the fire had grown to about 150 acres, causing I-90 to be closed in both directions from milepost 128 to milepost 136, just west of Vantage Bridge. The eastbound lanes reopened about 4 p.m., Weber said. The westbound lanes were still closed at press time.
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