Residents in the Sunset Ridge condominiums in Cochrane were never at risk when a tanker truck unit caught fire on Highway 22, north of Highway 1A near the town on May 24, according to Cochrane Fire Chief David Humphrey.
“The winds and all those good things were in their favour that day,” Humphrey said. “The guys would have (evacuated residents) as a precautionary measure, but I don’t think they were ever at a point where they had to make that decision to consider doing that.
“Crews were able to get the fire under control right after arrival,” he added. “There was no impingement on the tank itself. A different set of circumstances would have created a different set of conditions to deal with.”
According to a release issued by Cochrane RCMP on May 25, officers were called to the scene at approximately 2:20 p.m. The tanker trailer was transporting 40,000 litres of gasoline and 15,000 litres of diesel fuel to the Gas Plus gas station in the community of Sunset when the driver noticed smoke coming from the engine compartment and pulled over after hearing a small explosion.
The driver attempted to douse the fire in the engine compartment with a fire extinguisher but was unsuccessful at which point the Cochrane Fire Department was called to the scene.
The truck cab was completely destroyed in the fire, according to RCMP. The 30-year-old driver from Edmonton was not injured.
Highway 22 in both directions was closed for approximately 90 minutes.
According to RCMP, the driver said both the oil and water temperature gauges in the truck were reading high prior to the fire, which may have contributed to the incident. The cause of the fire remains under investigation.
