HEBRON — A sudden engine fire destroyed the cab of a tractor-trailer truck but left the driver and a load of wood chips untouched Friday afternoon.
Owner-operator Dan Searles of Phillips was hauling 90,000 pounds of wood chips from Casco to the Verso Mill in Rumford when the engine overheated and smoke began to billow from beneath the cab.
Searles said he pulled the 22-wheeler over on Allen Road and lifted up the hood of the truck, only to find oil spraying. The highly-flammable substance ignited and flames could not be extinguished by a hand-held fire extinguisher.
Crews from Buckfield and Hebron fire departments put out the blaze, which blew out the tires and reduced the cab of the truck to open gears and wires.
Firefighters said the truck’s fuel tanks at the rear of the cab were likely spared by a fire wall.
“I’d never thought steel could burn like that,” Searles said.
The Oxford County Sheriff’s Office investigated the incident.
ccrosby@sunjournal.com
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- An engine fire reduced the cab of a tractor-trailer truck to still-smoking gears and wires, but left its driver and cargo of 90,000 pounds of wood chips untouched in Hebron on Friday afternoon.
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