Huge Smoke Plume Rises Beside I-5 as Fire Burns Near Camp Pendleton

A huge plume of smoke rose right beside Interstate 5 near Camp Pendleton as drivers crawled past a wildfire burning on the edge of the freeway on October 16, 2026.

X user Big Head filmed the scene from a car in heavy traffic late that morning. In the video, thick brown and grey smoke billows into the sky just off the right side of the road, near a weigh station, as semi-trucks and cars inch forward. A fire engine sounds its air horn as it speeds past along the shoulder.

The Henderson Fire broke out on October 15 on the Marine Corps base in San Diego County and had burned about 2,080 acres by midday on October 16, with no containment, according to fire officials. Late that morning, a separate brush fire started off I-5 near San Onofre when a vehicle being hauled by a semi-truck caught fire, the California Highway Patrol said.

Shortly after noon, I-5 was fully closed in both directions between Vandegrift Boulevard and Basilone Road, with officials reporting active flames on both sides of the freeway.