Traffic hot potato: Burning big-rig loaded with yams clogs LA-area freeway for 7 1/2 hours

LA-area freeway clogged by burning yam truck

GLENDALE, Calif. — A burning big-rig loaded with yams has caused a hot potato of a traffic problem on a Los Angeles-area freeway. Cailifornia Highway Patrol Officer Ed Jacobs said a tractor-trailer hauling 50,000 pounds of the sweet potatoes caught fire on the southbound Interstate 5 in Glendale at about 2:30 a.m. Thursday.

No injuries were reported, but two of the four southbound lanes were closed for about 7½ hours, slowing traffic until the yams could be loaded into another truck. The lanes reopened shortly after 10 a.m.