Ashcroft's fire chief says that an early morning semi-truck fire at the Esso Travel Centre on Highway 1 near Ashcroft could have been much worse, had it not been for the quick actions of three employees.
Ashcroft Fire Rescue chief Josh White says that the department was called out at 5 a.m. on Sunday, June 16 to respond to a semi-truck fire in the parking lot at the travel centre. The truck was parked in an area where truckers can park their rigs and take a break or get some sleep.
“When we arrived on scene we found a fully involved tractor unit,” says White. “The crew fought the fire aggressively, and we were able to knock the fire down pretty fast.”
It was only when White spoke with the truck’s driver, and staff at the travel centre, that he was able to piece together what had happened and see how much worse it could have been.
“The driver of the vehicle had been sleeping in his rig, and woke up to the smell of smoke. He thought it was coming from outside his truck, but when he got out he saw there was a fire under the hood of his vehicle. He tried fighting it with a five-pound fire extinguisher he had with him, but was unsuccessful.”
Three travel centre employees — Becky Appleby, Tammy Whatman, and Nancy Rainville — arrived for work and saw the truck driver battling the fire. One of them called 9-1-1; then the three women started knocking on the doors of the other trucks parked in the lot, to wake the drivers and warn them to get away from the burning vehicle.
“They immediately stepped into action,” says White. “Next to that truck [that was on fire] were a number of other trucks: one carrying hazardous materials, and a fully-loaded fuel truck. Another truck had a load of tires on it, another had a load of lumber, plus there was a cube truck with a miscellaneous load, and a number of personal vehicles.
“The ladies knocked on the doors of all the vehicles, woke the drivers, and got them to move their trucks, telling them they had to get out because it wasn’t safe. Their actions saved the lives of all those people who had no idea this was going on, because they were all asleep.”
White adds that the women’s actions not only prevented casualties, they also prevented a much bigger disaster. Ashcroft Fire Rescue was able to confine the fire to the truck’s tractor unit and prevent it spreading to the load of lumber it was carrying, but White says it could have been much worse if it had spread to other trucks.
“If that fuel truck had gone up, it would have been a completely different outcome. There would have been lives lost and massive damage.”
Members of the BC Ambulance Service and Ashcroft RCMP also attended the scene, and White says there were no injuries. The fire started in the engine of the lumber truck, but the exact cause has yet to be determined.
White cannot speak highly enough of the quick thinking of Appleby, Whatman, and Rainville.
“I sincerely believe the actions they took were the right ones and they saved people’s lives this morning.
“These three people need to be commended for the actions they took. They’re heroes in my book.”
