Police closed down I-75 North near East Holly Road on June 27 shortly after midnight when a tanker filled with 13,400 gallons of fuel caught fire in a rest area.
According to police reports, the truck, driven by a 58-year-old Pontiac man, had a brake heat up on him causing flames to come up from the left side of the axle inside the tire burning through a fender. The flames did not reach the tank containing the fuel however.
‘It was a pretty bad situation for awhile,? said Springfield Township Fire Chief Charlie Oaks, who explained the trucker was on his way to a store in Swartz Creek.
According to Oaks, the driver attempted to put out the flames initially with a fire extinguisher before the fire department arrived.
‘We foamed it down and the Oakland County Sheriff’s Department closed I-75 northbound down for about an hour and a half,? said Oaks. ‘The biggest danger on something like that is an empty truck versus a full one.?
Oaks explained that the liquid in a heated container absorbs the heat, while with an empty tank the heat can burn through the metal and reach explosive fumes.
As stated in police reports, OCSD units from Brandon and Independence Township assisted by closing off all northbound lanes around 12:13 a.m. and reopened them by 1:49 a.m. Police also woke up other truck drivers near the rest area and requested they leave the premises.
Oaks called the closing strictly precautionary.