DEATH VALLEY, Calif. — A truck driver was killed on Tuesday after a tractor-trailer crashed into a historic building in Death Valley National Park, authorities confirmed on Wednesday.

The single-vehicle crash occurred on CA-190, between Stovepipe Wells and Towne Pass, shutting down the main route through the park for nearly 22 hours. The road was reopened by 11:30 a.m. Wednesday following extensive cleanup.

According to officials, a brake malfunction is suspected to have caused the crash. CA-190’s steep grades — especially near Towne Pass — have been the site of multiple truck fires and mechanical failures in 2024. On April 9, an electrical contractor’s truck also burned after descending the same stretch. In total, six commercial trucks and one fifth-wheel RV have caught fire below Towne Pass this year.

In Tuesday’s crash, the truck plowed into the Emigrant Ranger Station, a historic stone structure built in the 1930s by the Civilian Conservation Corps. The vehicle destroyed two stone porch columns, damaged the roof, and shattered windows. The building is famous for being the place where Stan Jones wrote “Ghost Riders in the Sky” while working as a park ranger in 1947. It has not been in active use for decades.

The truck was hauling material from a mine in the Searles Valley. A hazmat team worked overnight to clean up diesel fuel and scattered debris from the crash site.

No other injuries were reported. The identity of the deceased driver has not yet been released.