By Mark Gutglueck
What could have been multiple deaths along a stretch of the Mojave Desert were avoided early this evening after motorists who were stranded for more than eight hours in heat which at times exceeded 109 degrees followed the lead of a single bold driver who defied authorities by crossing the I-15 median west of Baker to end a vehicle logjam after the California Highway Patrol and both the San Bernardino County Fire Department and the California Division of Forestry’s firefighters abandoned more than 2,000 travelers in the sweltering heat earlier in the day.
An untold number of the hundreds of motorists who found themselves trapped on I-15 at or near the Clyde V. Kane Rest Area suffered heat stroke, which many had sought to ward off by remaining in their vehicles with their engines running and air conditioning on. But after being forced to remain in place, unable to continue northeast toward Baker and Las Vegas and unable to turn around and head southwest back to Barstow, the vehicles themselves began to overheat or ran low on fuel. Those who then exited from their cars put themselves in danger of breathing the carbon monoxide-laden exhaust from other vehicles.
This dilemma came about as a consequence of the crash of a big rig hauling lithium-ion batteries that occurred around 5:57 a.m. in the freeway’s northbound lane between Afton Canyon Road and Basin Road, roughly 45 miles east of Barstow and 21 miles west of Baker.

When firefighters came upon the crash, they encountered the big rig on its side on the shoulder of the road, with the fires having started inside the 51-foot long trailer as a consequence the heat being produced by the jostled batteries. Upon ascertaining the cargo as lithium-ion batteries and that some had been punctured and/or crushed, they recognized the potential for what is termed a thermal runaway, a chain reaction in which the batteries reach a critical level of heat and begin to explode, all the while emitting toxic fumes and gasses. Dealing with the potentially enlarging conflagration with the personnel on hand was deemed too risky, and a call of a hazardous materials-handling team went out.
The California Highway Patrol then moved to block the I-15 in both directions, stopping southbound traffic at Basin Road and preventing northbound traffic from proceeding north at Afton Canyon Road.
With a traffic backup ensuing almost immediately in the northeast-bound lane as a consequence of the early weekend travel to Las Vegas, a decision was made slightly later to stop the advance of northeast-bound traffic at the Clyde V. Kane Rest Area, which was about 3.75 miles further southwest from Afton Canyon Road.
As early morning gave way to mid-morning, temperatures began to soar. According to the National Weather Service, the temperature peaked at 109.4 degrees in the mid-afternoon. It was reported to the Sentinel, however, that after 3 p.m. one motorist recorded a temperature of 112 at the rest area.
Travellers were still free to continue northeast out the I-15 from Barstow after the closures had been effectuated in the early and mid-morning, but that northeast-ward progression became impossible after about 37 miles. The Sentinel was informed by one motorist that she had arrived at the Clyde V. Kane Rest Area around 10:30 a.m., at which point she was informed that the freeway was closed at that point, with an unknown estimated time of reopening. There was no option of turning around, and motorists were forced to wait in place at the rest area. According to the woman, the arrival of cars that were travelling behind her and the presence of vehicles locked in place in front of her meant she had to remain parked. A short time later, when some of those stuck at the rest area inquired about merely making their way across the northeast-bound lane and the median, a Highway Patrolmen stated that could not be done for safety reasons. About an hour later, wooden barriers were place in a position at the exit from the rest area, making blocking vehicles from getting onto the northeast-bound lanes of the I-15, such that crossing the median to the southwest bound lanes was out of the question.
For nearly six hours after the initial closure of the freeway, according to several motorists waiting at the rest area, there was virtually no southwest bound traffic through the area, such that movement of the vehicles waiting in place at the Clyde W. Kane Rest Area across to the southwest-bound lanes could have been easily and safely effectuated. It appears, however, that two factors, at least, prevented that from taking place. One factor was that many of the motorists there remained determined to continue northeast on the I-15 and had no interest in reversing course, which would have made it difficult for those behind them to get into position to cross the I-15 divide to the southwest-bound lanes. The other factor was the stern presence of at least two California Highway Patrol cruisers which were in place to prevent any such move.
The situation was exacerbated by what was apparently poor communication between the Highway Patrol officers on the scene and the regional command headquarters and the department’s dispatch function. Upon civilians reaching the Caltrans/Highway Patrol information lines, they would be told to stay in place, while being asked if there was a medical emergency. This came about, apparently, after a number of those jammed up along the freeway and at the rest stop began to experience heat stroke symptoms. Fire officials put out a statement late this afternoon that “Numerous calls for service have been received by our dispatch center from both Interstate 40 and the 15 Freeway. These include individuals exhibiting medical conditions and heat-related emergencies. We are actively addressing the needs of motorists stuck without water and experiencing other issues.”
A major issue was that the assistance being brought in was originating from the Barstow area, such that those vehicles were unable to make it to the rest area in a timely fashion because their northeast progression was brought to a halt when they encountered the back end of the traffic jam. Meanwhile, large numbers of the drivers of the vehicles at the front of the jam were by that point ready to simply make their way across the freeway to head southwest. If they had been permitted to do so, that would have thinned the northeast-bound traffic snarl-up sufficiently to allow the emergency vehicles to make their way forward. When those drivers closer to the front of the massive parking lot called California Highway Patrol Dispatch, they were told that it was unknown how long the freeway closure would last and that they would need to stay in place until that unknown hour arrived, and that exiting the Clyde W. Kane Rest Area by taking the I-15 southwest simply could not be done.
At around 3 p.m., the Highway Patrol opened the southwest lanes of I-15 for the traffic that had been dammed up at Basin Road. Because, however, the hazardous materials and specialized firefighting teams that was in place at the scene of the battery spillover had yet to bring the situation under control and had little prospect of doing so in a reasonably predictable timeframe, the northeast-bound lanes remained closed.
Late in the afternoon and then moving on toward the early evening, many of the trapped motorists had given up on trying to communicate with Caltrans and the Highway Patrol to convey their perspective that the most hazardous issues could be allayed by allowing them to remove themselves from the area by reversing their original northeast course to return southeast toward Barstow and beyond. Rather, they began phoning family members, friends, acquaintances or contacts to ask them for advice, help or for them to intervene with officials to seek to explain that those unable to get out of the Clyde W. Kane Rest Area or the area around it were in grave danger. It was around this time that the Sentinel received a rash of phone calls, some pannicked, some desperate, some exasperated, some angry.
It was after 7 p.m., when at last, a woman who had been in place at the rest area for more than eight hours started her SUV and carefully weaved around and past several dozen cars, trucks and small vans, drove to the end of the barrier that had been put place, then used her brakes to ease her drop over the curbing, gingerly drove across the northeast-bound lanes, and at first cautiously and then upon satisfying herself her wheels had enough traction on the surface of the median drove to the edge of the innermost southwest-bound lane. When a break in the traffic presented itself, she accelerated onto the roadway, heading southwest.
Her action was witnessed by dozens of others, a which point, two men exited their vehicles and moved two of the wooden barriers that were blocking the exit from the rest area onto the freeway. They returned to their vehicles and then one drove after the other out onto the northeast-bound lance and across the median, replicating, essentially, the action of the woman who had just served as their mentor. There upon dozens, scores and then hundreds of others followed suit.
Thus, without California Highway Patrol guidance or direction, a major manifestation of the freeway paralysis that had taken place over a 12-hour period was in large measure diffused.