A chain-reaction crash involving as many as six vehicles shut down the entire westbound side of the 10 Freeway in Ontario early Monday, leaving a pickup truck on its side and sending at least one driver to the hospital in critical condition. The crash struck near Etiwanda Avenue shortly before 2 a.m., according to the California Highway Patrol.
According to KTLA, the pileup began when a van and a car collided, setting off a chain reaction that eventually pulled in several more vehicles. CHP dispatch logs reported by Newsflare show the response drew officers from CHP's Rancho Cucamonga station along with crews from the Ontario Fire Department and San Bernardino County Fire Department, who worked to free a driver trapped inside an overturned blue Mazda using the Jaws of Life. That motorist was rushed to a hospital in critical condition.
Whether weather or speed played any role in triggering the initial collision was unclear, per the same KTLA report. The driver was reported in critical condition.
Freeway Shut Down for Hours as Crews Cleared Wreckage
Officers issued a traffic break at Cherry Avenue and requested a hard closure at Etiwanda Avenue while the scene was cleared, according to the dispatch logs cited by Newsflare. Investigators also directed five evidence tows to impound the damaged vehicles as part of the crash investigation. Officials later announced that the freeway had been cleared and all lanes had reopened.
The Ontario Fire Department, which operates 11 fire stations with 74 sworn firefighters on daily staffing, including four four-person truck companies, participated in the extrication response, according to the City of Ontario. The Yaghmai Law Firm says the CHP's Rancho Cucamonga Area office investigates freeway collisions on I-15, I-210, and connecting state routes, per the Yaghmai Law Firm.
A Corridor With a Troubled Recent History
Monday's wreck adds to a string of severe multi-vehicle crashes along this same stretch of westbound I-10 in 2026. In March, an overnight pileup killed two people between Euclid Avenue and Fourth Street, requiring six tow trucks to clear the roadway. In January, a semi-truck struck an overpass near Etiwanda Avenue and killed one person, according to reporting by CBS Los Angeles.
Just two months ago, a 21-year-old truck driver was sentenced in a Rancho Cucamonga court to four years and eight months in state prison after pleading guilty to vehicular manslaughter for an October 2025 eight-vehicle pileup on the same westbound corridor that killed three people and injured four, Hoodline reported at the time.
The corridor's crash history includes commercial trucks and passenger vehicles. Traffic crashes have killed or injured people in San Bernardino County, while statewide traffic fatalities remain a concern.
