Few details are available about a semi-tractor trailer that caught fire on Interstate 72, just east of Jacksonville on Monday night.
The Jacksonville and South Jacksonville Fire Departments and the Illinois State Police responded to I-72 milepost 69, just about 3 miles west of the Jacksonville Correctional Center exit at approximately 7PM. The Illinois State Police say no injuries were reported on the scene of the fully engulfed vehicle.
Eye witnesses report that the tractor-trailer was possibly hauling batteries and that the trailer caught fire quickly.
Traffic was at a near-stand still for over an hour in the eastbound lanes on I-72 for over an hour while firefighters doused the blaze and cleaned up the scene.
No further information is currently available.
UPDATE 12:35pm 2/25/2025:
More information has been released on a semi tractor trailer carrying batteries catching fire last night on Interstate 72.
According to a Morgan County Sheriff’s Department report, the driver of a 2020 International semi tractor trailer 66-year old Joseph E. Edwards of Winston-Salem, North Carolina alerted 9-1-1 that the trailer to his semi had caught fire at approximately 6:45PM Monday near mile marker 70 on I-72.
Edwards told dispatch that the fire had started near the rear hatch of the trailer and he had attempted to extinguish the fire but was unsuccessful. He then unhitched the truck from the trailer and drove it a short distance east away from the trailer for safety.
The first fire department units arrived about 10 minutes later, as traffic began to back up on the interstate. Firefighters extinguished the blaze but the trailer was a complete loss. No injuries were reported Traffic began to resume approximately one hour later and the final clean up units left the scene at approximately 8:30PM.