A truck loaded with smoldering hay from Cottonwood pulled off of Interstate 5 in Anderson on Saturday when the driver noticed smoke pouring out of the hay, said Anderson Fire Protection District Chief Andy Nichols.
The unidentified driver maneuvered the truck off Donald Lane and into a green, irrigated pasture when the fire district was alerted at 10:27 a.m., Nichols said.
When the driver tried to pull hay off the truck, the fire flashed, Nichols said. Unable to remove the hay, the driver tried to shake the hay off the truck by driving around the pasture. Some of the hay fell off, but not all of it, Nichols said.
When fire broke through the rear window of the cab and the driver bailed, Nichols said. However, the burning vehicle with a payload of burning hay did not stop. Unmanned, the vehicle drove through the field toward a nearby subdivision, Nichols said. But before the truck could reach the subdivision, the fire worked through the cab and into engine compartment and killed the motor, Nichols said, noting that the distributor on old Chevrolet trucks are in the rear of the engine.
The fire did not spread among the vegetation, as it was green, Nichols said, estimating damage to the truck and hay at about $3,000.
Scripps Interactive Newspapers Group
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