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Semi-truck fire slows Saturday traffic on I-5

Burning truck with passing traffic.
Brian Bull
/
KLCC
A semi-truck hauling hay is completely consumed by fire as motorists warily pass by in the late morning of July 25, 2026. While the vehicle and cargo were completely destroyed, Oregon State Police say the driver was unhurt.

A burning semi-truck on Interstate 5 created a dramatic spectacle Saturday near Albany.

Oregon State Police said the truck was hauling 12 tons of hay when its cargo caught fire. When emergency responders arrived on the scene near Milepost 222, the truck and trailer were completely engulfed in flames. The smoke could be seen for miles, with northbound traffic being restricted to the left-hand shoulder as emergency personnel responded. A brush fire unit kept the fire from spreading into a nearby field.

Police said the driver was unhurt, while two other vehicles were damaged.

Both lanes of northbound I-5 were reopened at 4:14 p.m.

Brian Bull is a part-time reporter for the KLCC News department who first began working with the station in 2016. He's a senior reporter with Underscore Native News and was also a journalism professor at the University of Oregon.

In his 30 years working as a public media journalist, Bull has worked at NPR, Twin Cities Public Television, South Dakota Public Broadcasting, Wisconsin Public Radio, and ideastream in Cleveland. His reporting has netted dozens of accolades, including four national Edward R. Murrow Awards (25 regional), the Ohio Associated Press' Best Reporter Award, Best Radio Reporter from the Indigenous Journalists Association, and the PRNDI/NEFE Award for Excellence in Consumer Finance Reporting.