PETROL TRUCK AFIRE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 125, 28 May 1936, Page 6

PETROL TRUCK AFIRE

TEXAS COMPANY’S LOSS TRAFFIC HELD UP ON MAIN HIGHWAY When proceeding toward Wanganui yesterday afternoon, « petrol lorry belonging to the Texas Oil Company caught fire and was totally destroyed about a mile from the Wangaehu Hill on the Alarangai Flat. It is understood that the engine backfired and that the first intimation that the driver had of the fire was smoke penetrating the cab. He ran the ■ lorry on to the side of the road down a 1 small hill near the Fordell Road June--5 tin. He made an attempt to suppress 3 the flames with the aid of a fire extinguisher but was driven back by the F heat. e Traffic along the highway was held - up while the truck blazed away for it r was feared that petrol in the tank n might suddenly explode. Nothing could o be done to save the lorry and the driver and a large number of motorists e who had gathered at the scene had to t be content to stand back and watch its - rapid destruction. •- An eye witness of the fire said that k the heat from the burning truck was i- fierce and it was impossible to get. anyv where near it. It biased away merrily e for some time, the flames leaping high e into the air. It was thought advisable n to hold up traffic on account of a posd sible explosion.