Police Car Fire On Westbound Highway 24 In Orinda Tuesday; Freeway Briefly Closed As Ammunition Cooks Off

Photo: Susan Cole

Police are descending on Highway 24 east of St. Stephens in Orinda Tuesday after a police car driven by a CHP repair technician caught fire and burned, cooking off ammunition inside the vehicle and catching the adjacent hillside on fire.

Traffic was diverted onto St. Stephens offramp. The technician made it out of the vehicle unscathed.

BART briefly discontinued service and westbound traffic on the freeway was reopened shortly after the incident, which could be seen for some distance away.

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2 Comments

  1. greg T on Jul 24, 2018 at 5:59 pm

    “Cooks Off”….. Is that a normal term for burning ammunition? I just never heard that phrase before.

    • NEWS24-680 on Jul 24, 2018 at 6:46 pm

      Howdy, Greg… it’s the term used for thermally induced firing, the detonation of explosives due to intense heat.

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