Driver narrowly escapes truck fire in East Vancouver, HAZMAT team deployed

A truck driver narrowly escaped injury after his truck burst into flames in East Vancouver on Friday morning.

According to Vancouver Fire Rescue Services, the man got out of the burning vehicle moments before the cab fully ignited at the intersection of East Hastings Street and Victoria Street around 8:40 a.m..

“The diesel tank on this truck was ruptured during the incident so we had a fairly large release of diesel… Being on the slope of the hill that it is, we had to work pretty quickly to try and get some of that containment,” Brad Hesse, assistant chief of operations, told Global News.

“We have ordered some services from the city and responded our HAZMAT team for clean up and containment.”

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The incident stalled traffic at the intersection on Friday morning, and the cause of the fire is unknown.

All of the pumps at the nearby Shell fuel station were turned off temporarily as a precaution, Hesse said.

The fire was extinguished “quickly” with foam, and fire crews chocked the truck tires to prevent it from rolling down the hill towards the Burrard Inlet, he added.

City crews are bringing sand to the intersection as part of the cleanup, and the hazardous materials (HAZMAT) team remained on site for several hours, Hesse said.