Fire destroyed this trailer and its cargo of liquor Monday, May. 1 (Photo by Lt. Jason Elmore)One driver was ticketed after his truck overturned and its cargo of liquor caught fire Monday, while in a separate incident another driver was hospitalized after trying to extinguish a blaze on his truck. And, on Sunday, a motorist driving the wrong way on on I-75 died when he slammed into a gasoline tanker which exploded and caught fire.
Police charged a truck driver with reckless driving after his tractor-trailer overturned and caught fire in Chesterfield near Richmond, Virginia at about 5 a.m. Monday, May 1. Virginia State Police reported the driver was distracted while driving, but no details were released.
Media reports say that after the tractor-trailer overturned, it caught fire. Firefighters used foam to help control the flames.
The truck driver and a passenger escaped with minor injuries.
Truck fire in Michigan
The driver of a semi-tractor trailer was transported to a hospital in Michigan after trying to extinguish a fire in the trailer’s rear axle on Monday, May 1.
Media repots say the Milan Fire Department responded to the vehicle fire around 9 a.m. on Monday, May 1 on northbound U.S. 23 under the Carpenter Road overpass near Milan south of Ann Arbor.
Fire officials say the cause of the fire was said the failure of a bearing in the rear axle of the trailer.
The truck’s driver, whose name was not released, was taken to the hospital due to difficulty breathing after he attempted to extinguish the blaze. A fire official said the driver inhaled some of the fire extinguisher’s contents.
Ohio tanker fire
On Sunday, April 30, a motorist driving the wrong way on I-75 in Dayton, Ohio slammed into a gasoline tanker, which caught fire.
The driver of the car died in the crash. The truck driver was treated for minor injuries. Neither driver was identified by police.
A portion of I-75 south was expected to be closed for several days due to the damage to the highway.
Twitter user @SarahDroesch posted a video showing a dark plume of smoke:
Do not come down I-75 South pic.twitter.com/NesxKcJ6VK
— Sar (@SarahDroesch) April 30, 2017
