Recycling truck fire closes lanes of I-680 in both directions in Concord

The CHP issued a severe traffic alert Tuesday morning after a recycling truck caught fire on Interstate 680 near Concord's border with Pleasant Hill, closing lanes of the highway in both directions for hours.

CHP said the vehicle fire on northbound I-680, south of CA-242 N in Concord, blocked all northbound lanes as well as the left and center southbound lanes as well as northbound lanes of Highway 242.

According to the Contra Costa County Fire Department, the call reporting the incident came in at 9:15 a.m. regarding a fully involved recycling truck fire. Firefighters noted that many of these trucks run on compressed natural gas, requiring fire crews to wait for the gas to burn off before approaching the truck.

Crews said the gas was in a phase of diminishing combustion, and crews present believe all of the natural gas has been burned. However, they need to confirm and fly a drone over the incident to make sure.

By 12:30 p.m., all southbound lanes were reopened. An hour later, all lanes of northbound Interstate 242 were closed, as were three lanes of northbound I-680, according to California Highway Patrol spokesman Daniel Gilmore.

No injuries were reported and fire crews were stationed on the other side of a highway noise barrier to protect a residential neighborhood in the area, said Con Fire spokesman Capt. Chris Toler .

CHP confirmed the crash was eventually cleared and all lanes reopened as of 4:15 p.m. The duration of the incident was 6 hours 42 minutes.