A fire in a truck McDonnell Fuels in Rockford closed Highway 6 and 10 at Grey Road 18 for a while Saturday night (Dec 11).
Inter Township Acting Fire Chief Jeff Gautreau says about 35 firefighters from Inter Township, Chatsworth and Meaford attended the scene at about 5:30 in the evening.
Gautreau says it’s not yet clear what caused the fire which was mainly contained to the tractor (cab) of the truck.
He says the strong wind was blowing in the right direction to keep the flames off of the rest of the truck, which had an empty fuel tank attached to it.
Gautreau notes, if the wind had been blowing the flames onto the trailer, it would have been damaged, though not catastrophically saying, “It could have burnt the tires and rubber on it…the lines and stuff but other than that it wouldn’t have been a concern.”
A nearby pickup also suffered some heat damage.
Gautreau says it took about two and a half hours to put out the fire.
He explains, based on the information the department received about the location of fire outside the fuel supply business and the high winds, they asked for mutual aid support from Meaford and Chatsworth, “All the factors made us make that call,” explains Gautreau who notes it’s better to have the firefighters and not need them, than to need them and not have them.
No injuries were reported.