Truck carrying 44,000 pounds of chickpeas catches fire in Death Valley

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A truck carrying 44,000 pounds of chickpeas burst into flames while driving through Death Valley National Park in California last month, park officials said Friday.

The truck was descending Daylight Pass and Mud Canyon Road, which is closed to commercial truck traffic, when its brakes overheated and caused the truck to catch fire at around 5:30 a.m. on Nov. 21, the National Park Service said.

The truck driver eventually pulled over once reaching flat terrain on CA-190, officials said. Multiple agencies responded to the fire and no injuries were reported.  

Death Valley National Park Superintendent Mike Reynolds said that commercial truck wrecks or fires always raise concerns about what materials may get released into the park.

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Firefighters extinguished a fire after a truck hauling 44,000 pounds of chickpeas burst into flames in Death Valley National Park last month. (NPS/Brian Aillaud)

“However, there’s very little chance that stray chickpeas not cleaned up will become invasive species in the driest place in North America,” Reynolds said.

Officials said the chickpeas won’t pose a hazard to the ecosystem at Death Valley National Park. (iStock)

Towing service Two Star Towing removed the charred wreckage and cleaned up the remaining dried chickpeas, park officials said.

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The incident was one of a handful of truck fires to occur in the park this year, the San Francisco Chronicle reported.

Steady drought and record summer heat make Death Valley “a land of extremes,” NPS says on its website. (NPS/Hoerner, File)

California Highway Patrol spokesman Torey Michener told the paper in July that truck fires are “usually driver error, riding the brakes instead of using the engine to downshift to reduce speed that causes the fire.”

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Abby Wines, a spokesperson for Death Valley National Park, told the paper at the time that most drivers are unaware you can downshift to save the brakes – even on an automatic transmission.