The leaves in a city truck caught fire three times before being put out by the Athens Fire Department Monday afternoon.
The leafing truck — which belongs to the Athens Department of Public Works — caught fire three separate times along Richland Avenue and South Shafer Street until it was put out in The Convo parking lot.
Dry leaves in the back of the truck overheated on the truck’s engine and started the fire, said Chuck Nungester, the city employee who drove the truck.
“When you’re leafing, (the leaves) lay on top of the engine,” he said. “Everything’s dry now, so it becomes more of a problem.”
Nungester said that he and Russell Harbert, the passenger, put the fire out twice before it became too much for them to handle themselves.
“We came across the (Richland Avenue) bridge and it was on fire so we put it out,” he said. “But then we got stopped at the light at Richland Avenue (and South Shafer Street) and it caught fire again and we put it out again. Shortly thereafter it caught again so we put the truck in the parking lot.”
By the time Athens Fire Department arrived, the fire had almost entirely been put out, said Athens Fire Lt. Charles Adams.
“(The fire) was put out for the most part but we did put some water on it,” Adams said, who added that dry leaves often pose a problem for the fire department, but rarely cause car fires.
“Leaves typically smolder, but we’ve never had a fire like this,” he said.
Fires sometimes occur, but they are usually put out without needing help from AFD, said Dana Nichols, mechanic for the City of Athens.
“(Fires) tend to happen and the drier it is, the more susceptible the trucks are,” he said.
The truck –– custom-made for the city in 1996 by Dinkmar, Inc. –– has had fires in the past, Nichols said, adding that he expects the truck to be back on the road in a week.
“If we can get a new air cleaner, next week it will be back in action,” Nichols said. “We need it to get through leaf season.”
sh335311@ohiou.edu
