South Jacksonville Fire Department Officials say things could have been a lot worse after responding to a call of a semi-truck on fire yesterday evening.
A call came into West Central Dispatch at 5:46 Wednesday night of a semi on fire at Rawlings Excavating located at 1033 Massey Lane.
South Jacksonville Fire Chief Richard Evans Jr. says the owner discovered the fire just in the nick of time, or things could have gotten out of hand quickly.
“The owner came home and found his dump truck on fire. It was close to a fuel tank and his machine shed, so luckily he grabbed his tractor and pulled it away from the building.
When we got on scene the truck was fully involved in the cab area and engine area. It was a 2004 International dump truck and it was a total loss. We were able to extinguish it and contain it to the truck itself.”
The South Jacksonville Fire Department was on scene for approximately 45 minutes extinguishing the blaze. Chief Evans says the owner was lucky he came home at the time that he did as the fuel tank next to the truck was very hot when they arrived on scene so the situation could have been a whole lot worse.
No one was injured in the fire. Evans says the truck is a total loss and although there was nothing suspicious about the fire, the cause remains undetermined at this time.