I-405 Car Fire Turned Friday Morning Commute into a Parking Lot

By the time most people were pouring their second cup of coffee, northbound I-405 at 112th Ave SE in Bellevue had turned into a five-mile backup with two fire trucks, a wall of smoke, and a car that was completely engulfed in flames.

Get our free mobile app

It started as a one-lane incident alert at 7:29 AM this morning, not how anyone wanted to start their Friday.

WSDOT I-405 Traffic Camera Video Shows the Fire Fight

The traffic camera footage captured the whole ugly progression. First, the entire car was engulfed in flames. Then a massive plume of grey smoke billowed from the just put out fire on the freeway. Eventually, all that remained was the black charred shell of what used to be somebody's vehicle.

Police, Incident Response crews, and fire departments all responded to the scene. At peak, two fire trucks were working to knock the blaze down while the two right lanes were completely blocked. Only the HOV lane stayed open, which wasn't much comfort to the thousands of drivers sitting in five miles of backed-up traffic.

The Good News is Traffic Did Eventually Clear

WSDOT confirmed the incident had cleared and all lanes were reopened. But if you were already in that backup, the damage to your morning was already done. Five miles of I-405 northbound doesn't unwind quickly, even after the lanes open back up.

I've watched the traffic camera video, and it is pretty dramatic. A fully burning car on a freeway is not something you see every day.