Initial fire caused two other smaller fires requiring two more fire calls
By Jim Beers, Contributing Writer
CHESTER – The Chester Fire Department had a very confusing report of three fire calls within the course of just a few minutes on Monday morning October 10th, Columbus Day. As it was eventually discovered, all three calls were directly related to one major call involving a truck fire.
The first call was received at 10:24:47 A.M. when someone reported a grass fire at 2150 State Street in the vicinity of the Best Western Hotel on Rt. 150 East in Chester.
When firemen arrived it was discovered that a very small area of the grass had caught fire due to a burning item that had been thrown onto the grass in the area. That small area was quickly extinguished and no further action was necessary.
Approximately three minutes later another call was received by the Chester Fire Department of a truck on fire at 1929 High Street in Chester near the entrance to the housing project at Koeneman Aces.
Kevin and Jennifer Cartwright of Chester had been working in their yard and pool area at that time when they noticed a significant amount of smoke coming from High Street in front of their home. Upon investigation they saw a small truck fully engulfed in flames. Mr. Cartwright immediately called the fire department.
The call came in to the Chester Fire Department at 10:27:58 and firemen responded to that location immediately. Some of the units had just finished up at the Best Western grass fire scene and responded from that location, therefore response time was very quick.
In the meantime another unofficial report came in stating that there was something else burning near Old Plank Road and Otts Drive close to the Chester Mini Storage Units. It turned out that the fire was a burning gas can that had apparently been abandoned there.
Chester Fire Chief Marty Bert said, “When we arrived at 1929 High Street the truck was fully engulfed in flames. We immediately started fighting the fire with foam since the gas tank was apparently very full of gas as was a key contributor to the difficulty in getting the fire completely extinguished.”
“There was a hole in the gas tank which allowed fuel to continue to leak out onto the road and flare up, creating a dangerous situation. We would get it under control and it would immediately leak some more and it would flare up again and again.”
By that time the truck interior was a total loss and fire personnel were attempting to just control the leaking gas and connected additional fires it was creating. Chief Bert noted that it took more than 30-minutes to get the fire totally under control.
Firemen attempt to deal with leaking gasoline that was seeping out of the tank of a truck that caught fire Monday Morning October 10th. Jim Beers Photo
Chief Bert said, “Apparently the fire was initially created by an electrical issue. The driver of the truck was a high school student. He had two other high school friends with him at the time.”
“According to the student, the fire started when the truck was in the area of the Best Western. Some items in the back of the truck bed caught on fire early in the scenario and the boys threw out one of those items thinking maybe that was the only issue with the fire. That burning item is what caused the small grass fire near the Best Western.”
“The boys then turned off of State Street/Rt. 150 East onto Old Plank Road thinking that they could get home in time to deal with the initial fire issue at home. As they neared Otts Drive, close to the Chester Mini Storage Units, they noticed that a gas can in the bed of the truck had also caught fire. That can was also apparently thrown out of the truck bed causing another notification of a fire to be reported.”
The Chester Fire Department responded to a report of a truck fire on Monday October 10th at 10:27 A.M.. The location of the fire was 1929 High Street in Chester, Illinois. Shown here the truck was fully engulfer when the CFD arrived. Jennifer Cartwright Photo
“By the time the boys made it to 1929 High Street, smoke had filled the cab and they pulled over to evacuate the truck. It was fully engulfed shortly thereafter. So, all three fires were the result of the initial fire that started by the Best Western.”
Kevin Cartwright said, “The boys were coughing pretty badly when they got out of the truck and came up into our yard to wait for parents to arrive.”
Luckily there were no injuries related to the fire and the scene was cleared within an hour or so. The truck was a total loss. Hopefully the boys learned a helpful lesson that if they encounter another vehicle fire in the future, they should GET OUT of the vehicle IMMEDIATELY and not try to make it home before reporting the fire!