CORNWALL – The eastbound lanes of Highway 401 had to be shut down for an hour Thursday night after a tractor trailer caught fire.
The wheels of the stainless steel tanker caught fire but the trucker managed to unhook his truck from the burning tanker and escape unharmed.
It happened around 9:45 p.m. a few hundred feet from the off-ramp to Brookdale Avenue in Cornwall.
Flames engulfed the bottom of the tanker, which was labelled AgroPur – a dairy cooperative in Oka, Que. – as loud bangs could be heard of the rubber tires exploding.
Firefighters had to set up a temporary holding tank and shuttle water to the scene on the highway.
They had the fire out within 20 minutes.
Traffic was allowed to move through the scene on one lane by 10:45 p.m. while mechanics and a towing company worked at the scene.
Firefighters wrapped up around midnight.
There are no reported injuries.
