ORONO, Maine — A tractor-trailer truck hauling a load of bulk potatoes caught fire around 7:30 p.m. Thursday on Interstate 95, prompting the temporary closure of the southbound lanes between the Stillwater Avenue and Kelly Road exits.
Firefighters from Orono, Old Town and Milford extinguished the fire, which destroyed the trailer and its contents. The passing lane was reopened slightly more than two hours later, Trooper Trevor Snow of the Maine State Police said late Tuesday night.
Snow said the travel lane was expected to remain closed overnight to allow cleanup crews to remove sections of the trailer, which had so much damage that traditional wreckers could not be used.
The highway closure resulted in an interstate bottleneck that delayed travelers, Snow said.
Snow said the trailer that caught fire was owned by AJA Trading LLC of Broad Brook, Conn., and was heading to Hatfield, Mass., with a load of potatoes from Monticello.
The rig’s driver, Marc Benoit, 60, of Hampden, Mass., managed to save the cab by disengaging it from the trailer after the fire began. Benoit was not hurt, Snow said.
Snow said that an inspection by Trooper Joshua D’Angelo of the state police’s Commercial Vehicle Enforcement Unit indicated that the fire was the result of a mechanical problem involving one of the trailer’s wheels. Also assisting at the scene was Trooper Jonah O’Roak and Orono police.
thought i smelled french fries….
Guess the Orono, Milford, and Old Town fire personnel are gonna be feasting on baked potatoes for the next month.
Does that mean the fire fighters get free baked potatoes? I bet they got that call and said “Bring the butter and salt boys!”
You plant potatoes you get potatoes
Mmmmm, fries!
So, a propane truck crashes and DOESN’T go boom but a potato truck burns up. Hear that Searsport? BAN POTATOES NOW!!!
The brakes on one tire were pressing against the drum and caused the drum to heat up and the 2 tires on that side caught on fire and it spread to the other tires and that’s why it burned so badly.
Wonder what the maintenance records will show. If the driver was more than 2 hours south of his departure he would have caught the hot axle. Then again they could have been a super trucker and was just going to drive the whole distance with out a enroute check.
Part of the CDL requirement here in Maine says a driver is to check the trailer and load after the first 10 miles and every 2 hours.
If they had followed the above it would not have been hard to find out if you have a bad bearing or brakes heating up. Not picking on the driver, just that there are rules to driving, and alot of ignorance seems to follow it.
Its not that hard to get out and stretch, mark on your logs “enroute inspection”, look and listen for leaks, take a ungloved hand and put it near the axle or brake drums. A hot drum will be noticable as soon as you get out of the cab.
let me guess, your an” out of work” trucka ,but the bennies from just stayin home and milking the system are too good to pass on
Kind of early for being mean wouldn’t you say. Unemployment rate dropped from 8.5 to 8.3 today. Downeasta could have been working all along, and smart enough to know the road rules for long distant hauling. And the ground hog saw his shadow yesterday. That should cheer you up a bit. Or are you reminiscing in your past. Just saying.
No past worth that im celebrating the future
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No benefits for working for companies out of the state of Maine. State law says you can only recieve benefits IF the company you work for is paying unemployment to the State of Maine. It does not apply if you worked for several years for a company in Utah or Tennessee.
The last company let all of us off with out notice that they were closing their doors. Just up and “oh hey you have to abandon your truck as we will not pay for the fuel, and we cant seem to find the money to pay you for the last 3 weeks driven. But we did get a heck of a retiremnt package to the CEO’s”
wow, good luck,sorry for the sarcasm, i thought you were a little rough on the driver ,im sure he probably did everything he should have , but he got burned on the two hour part anyway.
so you”ve been driving all these years?
more french fires for the school lunch program
Probably better not propose building a potato storage warehouse in Searsport. There is just a little army of people there who would be opposed to the storage of ammunition for all those potato cannons. It might blow up. It might “spoil the view”. Those potato house fires are usually big.
Wish the company hauling the taters would donate them to my first annual spud gun festival !
The propane truck truck didn’t go boom becuase there was no propane that leaked out and if there was you would need an ignition source to ignite the propane and if it’s a small leak and it does ignite the truck would not go boom. The pressure in the tank would keep the flames from entering the tank. The tank would have had to bust open or have a big crack were alot of the propane came out then the truck would have gone boom.