Investigators have requested surveillance video from Mid Con Carriers in Oklahoma City where a truck fire took place early this morning. (Photo from news9.com)Two big rigs caught fire early Wednesday morning in Oklahoma City.
Investigators have requested video surveillance footage from Mid Con Carriers where the trucks had been parked when the fire occurred. One truck is a complete loss, according to news9.com.
The news follows suspicious truck fires in Phoenix, Arizona and West Sacramento, California.
West Sacramento Fire Department Division Chief Rebecca Ramirez told Hard Working Trucks that fire investigators and police have been reviewing video footage from two truck lot fires that occurred in the city about three miles apart.
“I can’t tell you yet if they’re tied together, and I can’t tell you yet if they’re arson,” Ramirez explained. “What I can tell you is that they are suspicious in nature, so we’re investigating for arson, but I don’t know in fact if either one of them is arson or if either one of them is tied together. We’ll probably know that in the next month.”
Both fires in West Sacramento occurred in the early morning hours. One took place on Sunday, April 10 in the truck yard of SMT Repair Services; five rigs were badly damaged or destroyed. The other took place about a month earlier at another truck lot in the north part of town and destroyed four trucks, causing about $400,000 in damages.
Ramirez said that since both fires occurred in the early morning, firefighters didn’t get the call until the trucks were fully engulfed. Once on site, it didn’t take firefighters long to extinguish the fire. However, collecting evidence from a charred truck is no easy task.
“By the time we get there there’s just so much damage done that it’s hard to tell what started it sometimes,” Ramirez said.
Even still, investigators can find evidence in burned-out vehicles that indicate a cause. It’s just that with these two fires, Ramirez can’t help but wonder.
“My general feeling is that they’re suspicious in nature. These things just don’t spontaneously combust. But as we know there are a lot of things that can go wrong in vehicles and cause fires, even when they’re not being actively driven. Typically, we see that when the gears are still hot. So I won’t be surprised if they end up being arson, but I don’t know that at this time.”
Hard Working Trucks reached out to Phoenix Fire Department, which responded to a truck lot fire on April 11 about three miles south of Interstate 10 near Lower Buckeye Road and 75th Avenue, but the department was not able to provide additional details.
That fire, which started in the early afternoon, occurred in a Swift Transportation truck lot and burned six tractor trailers.
Hard Working Trucks also contacted Oklahoma City Fire Department about this morning’s fire. However, the agency did not have any other information beyond the initial report.
