Truck hauling ammunition catches fire on Wisconsin highway

AMHERST, Wis. (WSAW/WMTV) - As flames reaching as high as 20 feet into the air, firefighters outside of Amherst battled to contain the fire raging inside a semi-trailer that was hauling ammunition among other items.

Amherst Fire District Chief Victor Voss recounted that the ammunition was exploding as his teams fought to get the blaze under control. “It wasn’t a major hazard, but we had to be careful,” he said about the situation.

The trailer caught fire along Co. Hwy. 10, near the Co. Hwy. T and DD intersection, in the town of Lanark, while the driver was transporting the shipment to a Fleet Farm store. The driver was stopped alongside the road when firefighters arrived and unhooked the cab from the burning trailer to isolate the flames.

Voss explained that the fire was likely mechanical and investigators believed it started with the brakes and spread to consume the trailer. Firefighters’ efforts were further complicated, he added, when the trailer collapsed, and they needed to use an excavator to reach the blaze.

By the time it was fully under control, fire crews had dumped approximately 19,000 gallons of water onto the trailer, which Voss described as a significant amount and thanked the mutual aid departments that responded.

No one was injured in the fire and firefighters were able to clear the scene around midnight.

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