Fire in truck engine ties up 371 traffic
Traffic on Business Highway 371 was blocked for about a half-hour Monday afternoon after a small fire broke out in the engine of a semi-truck hauling refrigerated liquid nitrogen to Merrifield.
The fire was reported at 1:54 p.m. just north of the highway's intersection with St. Mathias Road.
Brainerd firefighters worked to stop an oil leak from a semi-truck that had caught fire about 2 p.m. Monday on Business Highway 371. Brainerd Dispatch/Steve Kohls » Purchase reprints of this photo.
The semi-truck drivers, brothers Jim and Bob Starker, were able to get the fire out before Brainerd firefighters arrived.
"We heard a boom and thought, 'It doesn't feel like a flat tire,'" said Jim Starker. "Then all of the sudden we started seeing a lot of smoke."
The cause of the fire was from oil that had splattered the engine because of a faulty injector. Firefighters sprayed the engine when they arrived. No one was injured because of the fire.
"No harm, no foul. We're lucky," said Brainerd Assistant Fire Chief Kevin Stunek.
State Patrol troopers and Crow Wing County sheriff's deputies blocked Business Highway 371 from St. Mathias Road to just south of Greenwood Street.
Jim Starker said he and his brother were hauling the nitrogen from Madison, Wis., and expected to be off the rest of the week after making their delivery to Merrifield. With their semi-truck inoperable, they would have to wait for a replacement truck to be sent from Madison, Wis.
MATT ERICKSON may be reached at matt.erickson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5857.