Caltrans could have prevented 10 Freeway fire, audit finds – NBC Los Angeles

Caltrans should have done more to prevent the massive pallet fire that severely damaged the 10 Freeway in downtown Los Angeles and blocked traffic for weeks, a state audit found.

While investigators believe the fire was intentionally set, the California Department of Transportation's Office of Inspector General noted that Caltrans had failed to take steps to “make this property safer for motorists who s 'were moving there'.

One of the key findings found that Caltrans failed to inspect the property as required, even though the fire scene was adjacent to a busy highway, with numerous flammable materials, including pallets, trailers and vehicles, on the premises.

Caltrans was also supposed to have inspected the property at least once a year. But the audit found that over the 15 years of the lease, Caltrans conducted the annual inspection only five times.

When Caltrans inspected the property in November 2023, a month before the fire, a photo taken by Caltrans inspectors showed there were piles of flammable materials under the highway.

“Caltrans once again appears to have ignored the conditions,” the report said.

Another Caltrans incident, according to the report, is that the Transportation Department appears to have ignored other lease violations.

Photos that listeners found on Google Images over many years indicate that the primary tenant was subletting or leasing the property to others. A series of photos shows large piles of flammable materials stored on the property.

The state had said the area where the fire originated was owned by Caltrans but leased to a private company named Apex located in Calabasas.

Although in the days after the fire, Newsom called the company “bad actors,” saying it was thousands of dollars behind on rent owed to the state and was subletting illegally the land, Apex claimed that it had not had access to the premises since October. 2023.

In response to the latest audit, Caltrans said it has suspended approval of any new leases, subleases and renewals of open storage properties for the time being.

“Since the Interstate 10 fire, Caltrans has implemented new oversight measures for airspace properties at the district and state level and imposed stricter requirements on potential lessees,” Caltrans said in a statement, adding that it would review additional safety recommendations.