A dozen Hope firefighters spent hours battling a truck fire on the Coquihalla Highway last week.
Crews were called out at about 3:30 p.m. on May 13 after a pulled over transport truck caught fire southbound near Othello Road. The cab was fully engulfed when firefighters arrived on scene and flames eventually spread to the trailer contents, which were inside a shipping container.
“It technically was outside of our area, but crews made the decision to try and put out the fire because of the contents. It was packing some kind of styrofoam material which has the potential to be very toxic when burnt,” said fire chief Tom DeSorcy. “So there was a potential risk to public safety and if the winds were blowing towards Hope, it could have been a concern for our area.”
Firefighters spent about six hours bringing the fire under control, before letting it burn itself out.
“We did what we could do, which was kind of limited because of water supply,” said DeSorcy.
“The chief officer was reporting that the material when it burnt, it wouldn’t melt – it hardened. So therefore they were able to cool the outside, but what was on the inside remained hot and it kept reigniting. It was a very stubborn styrofoam material.”