Man stops traffic on Highway 1 to help woman in burning truck
Bruce Parker says he pulled over when he saw a truck engulfed in flames on Highway 1 in Burnaby
A woman is in hospital with minor burns after being helped by a stranger on the highway when her truck burst into flames.
Bruce Parker was driving home eastbound along Highway 1 just before 2 a.m. when he saw a woman clearing out the back of a smoking truck, just east of the Willingdon Avenue exit.
"She told me that she had a small little fire, after someone was telling her to pull over," said Parker, who was driving home after providing security at an event downtown.
"She tried to attend to it with her fire extinguisher, but then it just fully engulfed."
Parker says he took out one of his flashlights, walked out into the middle of the highway, and stopped oncoming traffic around the flaming truck.
"Other than that, I waited for the fire department to arrive within minutes," he said.
"We ran out of water"
Crews arrived on scene shortly after 2 a.m. but took some time to put out the flames.
"We had to do some shuttling with water… we ran out of water," said Assistant Chief Rick Weir of Burnaby Fire.
"We ended up using 1500 gallons… 500 gallons from each of the engines on scene."
Fire under investigation
The Burnaby Fire Department says the cause of the fire is still unclear, but a propane tank in the back of the truck may be responsible.
Police and first responders closed down traffic on Highway 1 for nearly an hour as they dealt with the fire.