Ventura County Star
CAMARILLO, Calif. — A quick-thinking garbage truck driver saved himself and his ride Thursday afternoon when he dumped the burning contents of the cargo box onto Corby Avenue in Camarillo.
Crews from the Ventura County Fire Department responded to the blaze at 1:07 p.m. where Corby Avenue crosses Loma Drive. They found a heap of smoking trash on the street and smoldering garbage inside, said Steve Swindle, a spokesman for the department.
“The driver very astutely dropped his load and put it in the street and actually saved his vehicle by doing that,” said Swindle, also a fire engineer.
He did not immediately know how the fire started but said once the back of the truck was opened and oxygen was introduced, it “kicked the flames up.”
Firefighters worked on both the pile of trash on the road and the smoldering contents of the mint green trash truck.
No one was injured, Swindle said. The truck, while charred near the top and back, appeared operable, he said.
And as fires go, it could have been much worse.
“It just made a big, old mess on Corby Avenue,” Swindle said.
The fire spokesman said trash company E.J. Harrison & Sons was sending another truck to clean up the extinguished garbage.
Copyright 2017 Ventura County Star
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