UPDATE: Interstate 78 East, cleaned up after a truck fire in Glendon, reopened just before 9:45 a.m. Wednesday after a six-hour closure, Pennsylvania State Police report.
INITIAL POST: Interstate 78 East was shut early Wednesday morning at the Route 33 interchange in Lower Saucon Township after a tractor-trailer carrying Halloween candy caught fire about three miles east of there in Glendon, authorities say.
No one was injured, state police public information Trooper Nathan Branosky said. The tractor-trailer’s cargo spilled into the right lane.
While not giving an estimated time for reopening, Branosky just before 7 a.m. said the closure would be for “an extended period”.
The fire was reported at 3:45 a.m. and the first request for fire police to close the highway was at 4:22 a.m., authorities said. The closure was formally made at 4:53 a.m., according to an emergency dispatch.
The truck’s trailer burned, but the cab was able to disconnect, a Northampton County emergency dispatch supervisor said.
The detour takes vehicles north on Route 33 to Route 22, Branosky said.
A request was made at 4:47 a.m. to close the southbound ramp from Route 33 to 78, Branosky said.
Vehicles heading south on Route 33 were being forced west on I-78, Branosky added. The next interchange west is Route 412 in Bethlehem.
There was traffic stuck on the highway east of the Route 33 interchange and once the ramp was shut at 5:20 a.m., emergency personnel helped remove those vehicles, emergency dispatches said. That traffic was cleared from the highway about 6 a.m. near the interchange, according to a Pennsylvania Department of Transportation camera. But the effort continued as of 6:45 a.m. as there was still a log line of vehicles moving past the fire scene toward the Easton exit, according to a report from the scene.
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Tony Rhodin can be reached at arhodin@lehighvalleylive.com.
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