FAIRFAX COUNTY, Va. — Traffic extended for two miles Tuesday evening during the heart of the evening rush hour after a tractor trailer fire closed all northbound lanes on the Capital Beltway underneath Leesburg Pike Eastbound on Tuesday night.
And after nearly four hours of firefighter presence on the freeway and lane closures that area of the beltway is finally back open, according to Fairfax County Fire Department at around 10:45.
The fire happened on the Capital Beltway interrupting the evening rush hour at around 6:45, stopping all northbound traffic through the corridor that connects Fairfax County, Va. and Montgomery County, Md., as first responders worked to put out the fire.
At one point traffic stretched for two miles all the way from I-495's Exit 47 onto Leesburg Pike through Fairfax County into the beltway's intersection with I-66. Crews from the Virginia Department of Transportation were diverting northbound vehicles onto VA-7.
"Crews contained the fire to the cab," Fairfax fire officials said on Tuesday night at 7 p.m. "The fire is under control."
Fairfax firefighters said nobody was hurt in the truck fire and did not immediately say what happened to cause the tractor trailer to ignite.