Thanks to the Uinta County Fire Department, a disaster was averted on Monday afternoon when a military truck carrying ammunition caught fire on Interstate 80 outside of Evanston.
After the truck caught fire, the Wyoming Highway Patrol closed Interstate 80 as the fire department battled the blaze, which all but destroyed the cab of the truck.
The cargo containers which held the ammunition were not breached and the firefighters put out the blaze without any injuries.
After the fire was extinguished the military convoy — minus one truck — was able to continue its journey.
“We were headed to Evanston and passed it before any emergency vehicles were there,” said Susan Lallatin on Facebook. “Guys were running with fire extinguishers! Great job putting it out.”
Todd Ranker, a motorist from Illinois who was stuck behind the burning truck told Cowboy State Daily he was concerned everything was going to explode.
“I thought it was going to be exactly like the movie ‘The Naked Gun’ where that missile hit the fireworks stand and everything blew up,” Ranker said.
“My wife and I watched that movie a couple weeks ago and I told her this is like deja vu or karma or something,” he said.
“The wreckage looked like an everyday scene in Chicago. I need to move out here to God’s country,” he added.
If the story sounds familiar, just last week a Humvee — also in a military convoy — caught fire during rush hour on a Friday afternoon in Utah.
There were no injuries reported in that accident either.
