OCEANSIDE – Commuters heading south on Interstate 5 out of Orange County found themselves stuck in a traffic nightmare Thursday after a Vons big rig crashed into a disabled vehicle near Las Pulgas Road, flipped over and burst into flames.

SCOTT LINNETT / Union-Tribune Fire and highway crews work to clean up after a Vons big rig crashed and burned on I-5.

Traffic was backed up at least 13 miles as emergency crews first worked to free the trapped truck driver and then clear the wreckage. The accident also sparked a small brush fire on the side of the highway. Only one lane was open to traffic for most of the morning.

Shortly before noon, vehicles were allowed in the two left lanes and the center divide of south I-5 near the crash site as Caltrans crews cleaned up the debris and waited for a tow truck to remove the truck, a California Highway Patrol spokesman said.

About 60,000 pounds of meat and other items being transported had to be unloaded from the destroyed big rig.

The driver of the truck suffered major injuries in the crash, which was reported around 5:09 a.m. He was taken by helicopter to a La Jolla hospital, said CHP Officer Rob Sanchez.

The fire spread to the disabled sport utility vehicle and sparked a small brush fire that charred around four acres, authorities said.

Sanchez said the SUV had rear-ended another vehicle and was in the No. 3 lane when it was struck.

Sanchez said he didn't know what happened to the other vehicle involved in that collision. The driver of the SUV was able to get out of his vehicle and was not injured.

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