County dump truck catches fire
Ed Doiron shot these two photos of a dump truck fire last Tuesday afternoon at the intersection of Highway 5 and First Street in Gainesville, in front of the O’Reilly’s Store.
The driver of this dump truck was able to safely exit the vehicle before it became completely engulfed.
An Ozark County dump truck caught fire last Tuesday afternoon, Feb. 25, at the intersection of First Street and Highway 5 in Gainesville.
According to Eastern District Commissioner Jim Britt, the driver of the 2000 Peterbilt dump truck was traveling south on Highway 5 when he began smelling smoke and started seeing smoke coming from underneath his dash. The driver pulled into First Street, attempting to get the truck to a safer spot. Britt said the driver managed to get near the O’Reilly parking lot, got out of the truck and popped the hood. By that time, flames were coming from the engine.
Another county employee had been following the first truck, and after seeing the flames, both drivers and a bystander, former Gainesville fire chief Ed Doiron, attempted to control the flames with fire extinguishers. However, the fire was too large to control with the extinguishers.
Several minutes later, volunteer firefighters from several Ozark County fire departments began to show up and were able to put the fire out.
The truck was a complete loss and no one was injured. According to Britt, the cause of the fire has not been determined.