Trash Truck Contents Caught Fire in Oaks

At approximately, 12:50 p.m. Aug. 23, emergency crews, including those from Lower Providence Volunteer Fire Company, responded to a reported vehicle fire at the 422 Business Center in Upper Providence Township.

The initial reports stated that a trash truck was on fire, in the parking lot closest to The Dump retail store, located at 1800 E. Drive in Oaks. However, the trash truck operator said it was the contents and not the vehicle itself.

According to the trash truck operator, who requested that his name and company be withheld, he was in the 422 Business Center, after a less than 10-minute drive from another dumpster location in Oaks. The driver noticed smoke coming from the back of his trash truck, at the 422 Business Center location.

“It could have been a cigarette or anything,” the driver said.

The driver, who works for a Conshocken-based waste management company, said that he immediately dumped the contents of his truck, mostly paper and cardboard products, onto the gravel parking lot, where it continued to burn.

According to the driver, about three yards worth of such content were dumped.

“If I didn’t put it on the ground, it would have been a truck fire,” the driver said. “No hazmat, not toxic spill, all I got is cardboard and water to clean up.”

The driver said he is not aware of who called emergency officials, but they arrived within minutes of the truck contents being dropped. The driver said that firefighters extinguished the fire also within minutes.

By 1:30 p.m., the last of the emergency responders were leaving the scene. The driver said that he spoke with a fire chief, concerning the matter, who confirmed that his actions of dumping the contents were correct.

“He said it was a good call putting it on the ground,” the driver said.

Patch will follow-up with this story as an official report becomes available.