Nebraska Department of Transportation truck catches fire near Fairbury
Fairbury fire crews extinguished the truck fire within a few minutes, and the highway was shut down for half an hour
A state of Nebraska vehicle caught on fire Thursday morning just outside of Fairbury, shutting down traffic for part of an hour on Highway 136.
A Nebraska Department of Transportation truck caught on fire at around 9:30 AM near the river bridge just west of Fairbury, heading towards Hebron on Highway 136.
Fire chief Judd Stewart said the Fairbury Rural Fire Department received a report of a vehicle on fire at 9:25. They responded to the scene by 9:34 and nullified the fire on the truck within a few minutes, remaining on site for another half hour to ensure everything was fully extinguished.
There were multiple propane tanks on the back of the truck, but Stewart said nothing happened with those tanks - the fire was caused by a propane torch and has been ruled accidental.
Construction on that bridge had just been completed a few weeks ago, and the Transportation Department was on hand to patch up some asphalt around it when the fire broke out.
No one was injured, but the highway was shut down for about half an hour while the truck was completely extinguished and the scene was cleared.