Time: Before 4pm Wednesday – fire call 3:25pm
Place near bottom of Anarchist Mtn hill (Highway 3)
Ambulance, fire and police on scene
Minor injury only
Truck explodes – heard from a distance

“I was behind him coming down the hill and his brakes were smoking” says Sgt. Kevin Schur.

“The truck had a full load of lumber and I was about to turn on my emergency lights when the truck lost braking power and went up the runway lane.”

Schur says he then stopped, left his vehicle to ensure that everyone was safe but the driver was out of the cab and a bit shaken up. The truck had hit the barrier at the end and exploded into flames. More than an hour later the lumber was still burning with the Osoyoos Fire Department unable to get equipment positioned to put a lot of water on it. Later in the incident foam was sprayed on the truck and then a large piece of equipment used to dump the load to get at it with water.

Flames had already lept from the truck spreading to the grass, sage and scrub around it and went up the side of the mountain – visable for miles and later fought with an aerial bomber and forestry crews. This area has little timber and the site of an earlier fire some years ago.

Sgt. Schur says the truck driver had a minor injury and no structures appear to be danger. Forest crews will be in the area for some time to ensure that the fire is all out.