A garbage truck emptied his load on the highway’s side to avoid having his entire load burn earlier this week.
Nakusp RCMP report the garbage truck fire happened on October 23 at about 10 a.m. along Highway 6 near Summit Lake.
The driver had been picking up garbage from Castlegar and while en route to Nakusp, he “heard a loud bang come from the rear of his truck which was then followed by smoke billowing out of the rear,” says RCMP in a release.
The driver was able to safely pull the truck over into a pullout where he felt it was safer to empty the garbage than to have the entire truck burn.
RCMP attended along with the Ministry of Highways, the Ministry of Forests, and a local contractor from Nakusp with a water tanker truck.
A berm was created with sand prior to the fire being extinguished to prevent contamination to the lake. When the fire was extinguished, the garbage was reloaded into a second truck.
Due to the nature of the event, and the location near Summit Lake, the Ministry of Environment was informed of the situation.