A commercial truck transporting logs received major fire damage Tuesday morning, May 14, after a fire reportedly started inside the truck as it traveled along Highway 34 east of Interstate 5 in Linn County, according to Oregon State Police.
According to Trooper Phil Van Leuven, at approximately 10:09 a.m. a 1993 Kenworth truck driven by Randy L. Nunn, 44, of Sweet Home, was westbound on Highway 34 near milepost 14, en route to Roseburg with a load of logs.
Nunn reported a fire started near the dashboard area inside the truck.
The truck burns as firefighters work to extinguish the blaze. Photo courtesy of Catherine Moser.
He pulled into the center median and stopped to avoid any potential of the fire spreading to nearby grass, police said.
Tangent Fire Department and Oregon Department of Transportation personnel responded to the scene. Firefighters extinguished the fire while the road was closed for over 30 minutes.
Police said the fire was restricted to the truck and didn’t spread to the loaded logs.
Traffic was restored to one lane in both directions for about two more hours until the truck and trailer were removed.