All westbound lanes of the 105 Freeway reopened Friday evening after a fiery crash that killed two people shut down the area early Friday, authorities said. The eastbound lanes had been reopened hours earlier. The highway had been closed near Prairie Avenue since 5:15 a.m. when a tanker truck collided with a Range Rover, triggering an explosion that also forced the Metro Green Line to shut down, according to the California Highway Patrol. Commuters found themselves stranded for miles in both directions, with some driving the wrong way in an attempt to get off the freeway. The eastbound lanes opened about 8 a.m., but it took nearly 12 more hours to open the entire freeway. corina.knoll@latimes.com Advertisement @corinaknoll<doc-sep>A deadly early morning crash on the 105 freeway near the 405 interchange led to snarled traffic for hours this AM — and an opportunity to sell some breakfast items for one enterprising catering truck. AC Catering was stuck in the same freeway-turned-parking-lot scenario as hundreds of other motorists in the pre-dawn hours this morning, hugging the carpool lane while waiting out the emergency response and cleanup. Eventually the crew decided to pop open the window and do a little business, even turning on the lights for morning motorists, who immediately began to queue up. That’s per the Los Angeles Times and photographer Chris Keller, who managed to capture the surprising image below: AC Catering from Bell Gardens opened its food truck to motorists stranded on the westbound 105 Friday morning after a collision with tanker truck sparked a "fireball" and a full freeway shut down in Hawthorne https://t.co/YQrnUsfXjq pic.twitter.com/IprnuDcN2O — Los Angeles Times (@latimes) August 24, 2018 AC Catering is a large-scale food truck operation that runs out of a nearly four-acre lot in Bell Gardens. The company has been in business since the ‘70s as a stable, commissary kitchen, and maintenance bay for some of LA’s most well-known food trucks, and they even have their own branded rigs that do daytime work at places like construction zones, business parks, and at LAX. The confluence of cars, crashes, and food is nothing new in Los Angeles. Earlier this year a woman was sentenced to one year in jail for a deadly crash that killed a pedestrian in front of a Boyle Heights taco stand, and the popular Tere’s Mexican Grill on Melrose was the site of a deadly hit-and-run crash of its own back in April.<doc-sep>EMBED >More News Videos Firefighters were battling massive flames after a tanker truck crashed and erupted in flames on the 105 Freeway in Hawthorne. EMBED >More News Videos Drivers on the 105 Freeway in Hawthorne were stuck in gridlock traffic following a fiery, fatal tanker truck crash. So, a food truck opened up shop right on the freeway lanes, feeding drivers at half price. HAWTHORNE, Calif. (KABC) -- Many stranded on the 105 Freeway after the fiery, fatal tanker wreck were headed to Los Angeles International Airport. Some even climbed a freeway fence - with wheelie bags in tow - to try and catch their flights. "It was an absolute mess. Everything was closed down. Every entrance that we tried to get onto the freeway," described Shelby Rowe, a Long Beach resident.Rowe was one of many frustrated drivers delayed for hours trying to get to LAX, navigating around the 105 Freeway shutdown following the fiery crash early Friday morning Some drivers even ditched their cars and scrambled up hillsides in order to get to the other side of the freeway fencing. Strangers helped one another by carrying their bags over the fence. "Probably about an hour or so stuck, and just had to change the flight," said one man who was eager to get to LAX to catch a flight back home to Michigan.Strangers around him pitched in and helped get his luggage up a dirt hill and over a metal fence. "That was really cool. Everybody helped. I'm not sure how that would have worked, coming up here," he said.Others had the same idea. "So I was with a girl, she had a flight too, we had the same flight, we had the same airline, and we decided to call our airline and see what they could do for us. Then we saw that guy taking his suitcase and walking and trying to get out, so we decided, why not do that?" another stuck traveler said.Not only did the gridlock traffic impact travelers heading to LAX, it also affected travelers who landed at the airport and were looking for a ride home. Many were stuck at the airport, waiting for their Ubers and Lyfts, which were stuck in traffic.The tanker crashed around 5:30 a.m. and ignited an inferno on the freeway lanes. Two people were killed - one person in the tanker and another in a Range Rover.The crash initially shut down both directions of the 105 Freeway, snarling traffic. The eastbound lanes were opened around 8 a.m.<doc-sep>
Isabel Larios was among thousands of commuters stuck on the 105 Freeway in Hawthorne early Friday after a deadly collision between a tanker truck and another vehicle shut down the road in both directions for several hours. Frustrated by the shutdown, the food truck operator got up to make herself some coffee — it was 6 a.m., after all. She stepped outside and opened the compartment with the coffeemaker. Some motorists took that as a sign she was open for business, asking, “Will you serve us coffee? Breakfast?” Larios turned to her cook: “Should I do it?” “Do it!” the cook responded. “We’re not moving anyway.” It wasn’t long before motorists began getting out of their cars and placing their orders for burritos, sandwiches and coffee from Larios’ food truck, parked in the carpool lane. Larios hasn’t counted her money yet, but she estimated that she sold dozens of orders of coffee and most of her eggs. Customers were amused at her good fortune, with one person shouting, “You’re making good business!” Some of the clientele knew her, she said. They were headed in the same direction, Los Angeles International Airport, where Larios normally serves construction crews working on the airport tunnel. RELATED: Eastbound lanes of 105 Freeway in Hawthorne reopened after fiery crash that killed two » She lamented that the airport crews might miss their morning coffee. “I never thought something like this would happen,” said Larios, who has operated the food truck since 1986. By 8 a.m., the eastbound lanes of the 105 Freeway had been reopened, and the California Highway Patrol had cleared much of the area around the crash site, although westbound lanes at Prairie Avenue remained closed. Service on the Metro Green Line was also disrupted. The crash occurred about 5:15 a.m. when a Range Rover and tanker truck collided near Prairie Avenue, according to the CHP. The tanker burst into flames and sent a fireball shooting across the freeway. Two people were killed, according to the Los Angeles Fire Department. Times staff writer Chris Keller contributed to this article.