LORRY ON FIRE.

Press, Volume LXVI, Issue 19854, 15 February 1930, Page 14

LORRY ON FIRE.

PETROL DRUMS EXPLODE. Fire broke out on a three-ton motorlorry loaded with 17 drums of petrol on the Main South road opposite Mr P. Lysaght's farm at Fairton, yesterday afternoon, as a result of which the driver, Gordon Stanley Thompson, aged 26 years, of Hinds, is in the Ashburton Public Hospital suffering severely from burns to the chest, arms, and face.. The lorry, which was owned by. R. G. Thompson, carrier, of Hinds, and brother of the driver, was being driven from Christchurch to Hinds, and a stop had been made on the road to refill the petrol tank. The tank exploded, and flames burst up in the facg of the driver, quickly getting a hold on the lorry. The heat from the fire exploded the largo 45-gallon drums, some of which were hurled into the air and across the road, .belching forth huge columns of Mack smoke. For some time the road was impassable owing to the burning lorry on one iside and the flames from the drums on the other. About two chains of fencing around an orchard on the(property of Mr Lvsaght were burnt. The lorry, which was insured, was totallv destroyed, but three drums were undamaged. A man who accompanied Thompson was not injured.