LASAN Truck Ablaze in the Huntington

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Shortly after 2 p.m. on Tuesday afternoon, October 17, an employee of city of Los Angeles Sanitation & Environment had completed his route in El Medio Bluffs and was driving his truck eastbound down Sunset Boulevard through the Village toward Chautauqua when he smelled smoke in the cabin.

He made a right-hand turn onto Drummond Street, parked the truck in the intersection of Drummond and Toyopa, and climbed out of the vehicle with smoke billowing in the cabin. Moments later, the truck burst into flames.

The driver immediately called the fire department. Three Los Angeles Fire Department Station 69 trucks, along with an ambulance, arrived at the scene within five minutes, and foam was used to rapidly extinguish the blaze.

“An LASAN solid waste collection vehicle experienced a fire beneath the cab of the truck yesterday in Pacific Palisades,” Elena Stern, senior public information director of Department of Public Works, told the Palisadian-Post. “The LA Fire Department contained the fire and ensured that it did not spread beyond the cab. No one was injured during this incident.”

The driver, 47, who has worked for LASAN for 23 years, had been on his way to assist with trash pick-up east of Pampas Ricas in the Huntington as they were missing a driver.

Drummond resident Craig Weston arrived at his home across the street around 3:20 p.m. and feared his house had flooded.

“My first thought when I saw all the foam on the curb and flowing out to the street was that my washing machine had broken, my living room was flooding and that was the suds leaking under the front door,” Weston said.

The severely charred truck was towed away several hours later.

“The driver should be commended,” Weston noted. “First, he got the truck off of the main road, which would’ve caused a major traffic jam at least in one direction, and he parked it in a safe area out in the open where there were no trees or houses that could catch fire. If not for him it could’ve been worse.”