By Robert Jordan
Dunn Daily Record
DUNN – A family destined for Disney World on Interstate 95 lost a pickup truck and a recreational vehicle in a fire on Wednesday, Mar. 1, and all southbound lanes were closed for several hours.
Firefighters with Dunn Emergency Services were dispatched to the southbound lanes of I-95 at 12:07 p.m. in reference to a vehicle fire. Before the first unit arrived on the scene, the fire officer could tell from the column of smoke he saw that the 750 gallons of water on his rescue/pumper would not be enough to battle the blaze. When they arrived on the scene just in front of the Rooms To Go warehouse, the crew found a six axle RV towing a full size Dodge pickup truck with heavy fire showing on the rear of the RV and the pickup truck was fully involved with fire. The surrounding grass and weeds were burning as well.
A District 15 pumper/tanker was dispatched to the scene as well as a brush truck.
It wasn’t long into the fire suppression efforts before the incident commander requested another tanker from Plain View Fire Department as their supply of water was nearly depleted.
A member of the Interstate Motorist Assistance Program (IMAP) said it appeared the pickup being towed by the RV caught fire first and the fire extended into the RV. Debris was scattered across both southbound lanes for over a mile.
One lane of southbound I-95 was reopened at 1:57 p.m. allowing a miles long traffic backup to begin moving once again.
The streets of Dunn became a near grid locked nightmare as drivers left the interstate and attempted to avoid the traffic snare.
The N.C. Highway Patrol is assisting emergency responders with traffic control as the incident is cleaned up and investigation of the fire is completed.
There were no injuries reported in this incident.
