Tractor-trailer catches fire, shuts down traffic for hours
By Ethan Smith
Published in News on May 19, 2016 1:46 PM
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News-Argus/CASEY MOZINGO
The cab of an 18-wheeler engulfed in flames sits in the middle of the intersection of U.S. 70 East and Oak Forest Road Wednesday night shortly after 5 p.m. The driver of the truck, belonging to G&P Trucking out of South Carolina, got out of the truck shortly before the fire ignited.
U.S 70 East at its intersection with Oak Forest Road shut down for several hours Wednesday night when a tractor-trailer spontaneously caught on fire.
Thirty-nine-year-old Tavish Brown of Wagram was driving his tractor-trailer on Oak Forest Road and turning onto U.S. 70 East when he said the engine began smoking.
"It ran hot, you know what I'm saying?" Brown said. "The fuel was leaking into the lane and the smoke kept getting worse, then it caught on fire."
The entire front of Brown's tractor-trailer, including the engine and cabin where Brown was sitting, was engulfed in flames. The tractor-trailer was a total loss.
Brown escaped the cabin of the vehicle without injuries. He said he had been driving tractor-trailers for 10 years and had never experienced anything like the events that unfolded on Wednesday evening.
Brown said he was picking up a load for G&P Trucking Company out of South Carolina from Lowe's Home Improvement Store on Berkeley Boulevard Wednesday night.
"I'm glad it didn't catch on fire when I was sitting in the parking lot," Brown said.
Brown had left Lowe's and was turning onto U.S. 70 East from Oak Forest Road when his truck began smoking. He said he thought a fuel tank or fuel line had split open underneath the truck, which is what caused the fire.
Diesel fuel coated the intersection of the two roads after the tractor-trailer caught fire.
Traffic on U.S. 70 backed up both ways for more than a mile, with one lane on each side of the highway shutting down and traffic being rerouted around the tractor-trailer.
Troopers with the North Carolina Highway Patrol worked to direct traffic through the intersection until the scene was cleared.
The highway patrol, Goldsboro Police Department, Wayne County Sheriff's Office, and El-Roy Volunteer Fire Department Engine 1, Engine 3 and Tanker 1 responded to the scene.