A commercial truck caught fire late in the afternoon on March 14, 2024, along Interstate 84 about 6 miles north of Baker City.

BAKER CITY — A fire that started in the tractor of a semi-truck combination along Interstate 84 near the Baker City Airport on Thursday evening, March 14, spread into tall grass beside the freeway, burning about 4 acres and causing the freeway’s westbound lanes to close for about one hour.

No one was hurt in the fire, which was reported at 5:53 p.m., according to the Baker County Dispatch Center.

The truck driver, Navaho Singh Dhaliwal, 50, of Renton, Washington, after noticing smoke coming from the front of the tractor, pulled over just north of the overpass at the Medical Springs interchange at Milepost 298, said Buzz Harper, chief of the Keating Rural Fire District.

Coincidentally, Harper and several other firefighters were just a few miles away, responding to a report of a different vehicle fire, about 30 minutes earlier, at the North Baker City interchange, Milepost 302.

A driver had crashed into a guardrail beside the westbound freeway onramp. The driver was not hurt, he said. According to an Oregon State Police report, the engine compartment of the car caught fire, but the flames were quickly extinguished by bystanders.

While at that scene, the call came in about a fire at the Medical Springs exit, Harper said.

When he arrived the tractor was burning.

Harper said the driver was able to disconnect the trailer and drive the tractor 10 feet or so away before flames engulfed the cab. That prevented flames from spreading to the trailer, which Harper said contained metal desks, tables and carts.

Harper said he didn’t know what caused the fire.

Explosions, apparently from the fuel tank and tires, spread flames into tall, dry grass just east of the freeway, and a brisk north wind quickly fanned the flames, Harper said.

Crews from the Keating, Baker Rural, North Powder, Haines and Baker City fire departments doused the blaze before it crossed Highway 203, Harper said.

“It was pretty intense there for a bit,” Harper said.

Because traffic, including commercial trucks, were continuing to drive past, some without slowing in deference to the firefighters working near the freeway, Harper said he asked Oregon State Police to close the westbound lanes.

He said firefighters finished mopping up the fire just before dark.