Jackson Road crash in Sacramento County starts fire, causes power outage and lane closures

A major crash involving several vehicles Monday near Grant Line Road and Jackson Road started a fire in south Sacramento County, authorities said.

A garbage truck and three other vehicles were confirmed to be involved in the incident reported around 2:30 p.m., according to the California Highway Patrol incident web page. A large truck, though it is unclear if it was the garbage truck, collided into several vehicles, took down a power pole and power lines and started a fire.

Three crash victims were transported to the hospital, and one person was released at the scene after evaluation, according to Sacramento Metropolitan Fire District spokesman Capt. Parker Wilbourn.

A transformer on the power pole exploded, sparking a fire in a field just east of the collision, according to CHP officials.

Both lanes of Jackson Road were blocked, CHP officials said. Grant Line and Jackson roads were closed in all directions, according to Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Sgt. Amar Gandhi.

One vehicle that caught on fire had ammunition in it, and rounds began going off, authorities said.

The garbage truck caught fire next, law enforcement said.

At around 3 p.m., CHP officers said they saw a party possibly involved in the crash walking away from fires toward Sunrise Boulevard on Grant Line Road. Minutes later, the CHP said it would be shutting down Grant Line Road at Sunrise Boulevard.

SMUD issued a public alert at 3 p.m. that noted an outage caused by the pole being knocked down left nearly 700 customers without power, most of them in Rancho Murieta. SMUD officials arrived at the scene of the crash around 3:20 p.m., CHP said. At 3:30 p.m., power was restored to most affected customers.

The grass fire was reportedly doused by fire personnel at 3:02 p.m., authorities said. The garbage truck, however, blazed on.

CHP South Sacramento first responded to the incident. Officer Mark Leavitt, a CHP South Sacramento spokesman, said around 3:30 p.m. Monday that there was a possible vehicle rollover.