Brush fire causes traffic backup in Escondido

ESCONDIDO (CNS) - Northbound traffic on Interstate 15 was briefly backed up Saturday, Sept. 14 as firefighters battled a brush fire, the California Highway Patrol said.

A brush fire on the right side of the northbound Interstate 15 and State Route 78 interchange was reported at 1 p.m. Saturday. Escondido firefighters worked on putting out the flames on the side of the freeway for about an hour.

The fire was extinguished at about 2 p.m., according to a CHP incident report.

Traffic on the northbound side of I-15 was backed up to Felicita Road. Traffic on SR-78 was also backed up.

CHP officers were busy trying to get the traffic moving again, with some reports that drivers were driving the wrong way on the freeway out of frustration with the delay.

At 2 p.m., CHP reported that westbound SR-78 was open. At 2:13 p.m., northbound I-15 was reported clear to traffic.