HANTSPORT, N.S. — HANTSPORT, N.S. – Hundreds of vehicles were being rerouted through Hantsport along Highway 101 after a garbage truck’s load caught on fire around 12 noon on May 23.
The driver of the truck was uninjured but had to dump the contents on the side of the highway to prevent it from spreading to the vehicle.
Firefighters from Hantsport, Windsor, Wolfville and Brooklyn were on scene or assisted through mutual aid.
RCMP were rerouting traffic off the highway near exit 8, causing traffic delays for those heading towards Kings County.
That section of the highway has since been opened to one lane.
Paul Maynard, deputy fire chief with the Hantsport Fire Department said one garbage truck driver noticed smoke coming from another vehicle and they pulled over to investigate what was going on.
“They tried to extinguish the fire with some extinguishers they had, but realized it was a little more than what they could contain,” Maynard said. “They emptied out the back of the truck onto the highway.”
Maynard said there was approximately two tons of compacted cardboard inside the vehicle that was on fire.
He said that there was no damage to the truck itself and the fire was contained to the cardboard and didn’t spread to the nearby grass or trees.
Firefighters were expected to remain on scene until 2 p.m. or later to deal with remaining embers and clean up.
Maynard said the cause of the blaze is unknown, but it was likely something within the truck’s load but nothing mechanical from the truck itself.
“We ask that people keep their speed slow while we’re on scene,” he added.
