An early-morning semitrailer fire on Thursday shut down northbound Interstate 35 in Wichita for around two hours before the roadway was reopened, officials said. The fire was reported around 4:05 a.m. Thursday on northbound I-35 near E. 63rd Street S. on the south side of Wichita. The incident occurred along the Kansas Turnpike.
Officials said a 2015 Freightliner Cascadia semitrailer had a mechanical failure, which led to it catching fire. Both lanes of northbound I-35 were reported to be shut down before reopening a couple of hours later at 6:47 a.m. Thursday, when the left lane was reported to be clear. Northbound traffic on I-35 was diverted onto the S. Mead Drive exit — about a mile south of where the semi caught fire — as crews responded to the scene.
The driver of the semi, Saul Ibarra Trevino, 57, of Norfolk, Neb., was reported uninjured in the incident. The patrol said Trevino, who was alone in the semi, was wearing his seat belt. Additional details weren’t immediately available.
