A tanker truck overturned early Saturday on the westbound 105 Freeway near Vermont Avenue in the Vermont Vista neighborhood of South LA, drawing a large emergency response and snarling the pre-dawn commute. Officials have not yet released details about possible injuries, what the truck was hauling or the extent of lane closures.
According to the LAFD, a tank truck overturned on the westbound 105 in the Vermont Vista area, with Fire Station 64 among the units dispatched. The alert on X linked to a map and additional incident information for drivers trying to sort out their morning route.
A regional planning study has already flagged this stretch of the 105 around Vermont Avenue as a collision hotspot, a reminder that heavy-vehicle incidents here can quickly ripple through the freeway network. Per SCAG, collision concentrations along the corridor are clustered near interchanges like Vermont, and drivers can check closures and live camera feeds on the state’s QuickMap tool via Caltrans.
Past tanker crashes on the 105 have been severe
Tanker wrecks on the 105 have produced catastrophic outcomes before. A 2018 collision near Prairie Avenue ignited a major fire and shut the freeway for hours, according to the Los Angeles Times, underscoring how a single fuel-carrying vehicle can shut down the corridor and damage nearby infrastructure.
What drivers should expect after an overturn
Overturned heavy trucks typically require stabilization, hazardous-materials checks and specialized tow crews, a combination that can stretch cleanup into the afternoon and push frustrated drivers onto nearby surface streets. A March concrete-mixer flip in Boyle Heights showed how long that process can take, as crews worked through the morning to free a trapped driver and clear lanes in what was described as freeway chaos in Boyle Heights.
Officials are likely to post updates as they become available, and motorists should keep an eye on the LAFD feed and check conditions through Caltrans for the latest on lane status and detours. We’ll update this story when agencies release more information.
