Burning garbage causes stink in Kings County
Thick smoke blew across a Kings County road for a time Friday morning after a fire broke out in a garbage truck on Highway 359 in Centreville.
Kentville firefighters were called just before 8:45 a.m. after the driver of the truck stopped to empty a dumpster into the top-loading vehicle and spotted smoke coming from the top of the truck where the loads dump in. He tried to use fire extinguishers to quell the flames without success.
He dumped the burning garbage into a parking lot, where firefighters doused it before bringing in a tractor to pull the compacted pile apart to make sure it was completely out.
Canning and Halls Harbour firefighters sent tankers to assist with the efforts.
The truck wasn’t seriously damaged. The fire is believed to have started when a bag fell onto the screen over the exhaust pipe and caught fire from the heat. The flames then travelled back into the load.
There were no traffic disruptions and no injuries. The company that runs the truck was bringing in a loader and containers to clean up the debris and unburned garbage from the parking lot.
