WAYNETOWN — A semi tractor was described as a total loss Wednesday after a quick but destructive fire engulfed the family farm vehicle.
Emergency crews responded to the 6900 block of West State Road 32 shortly after 10:30 a.m. after receiving reports of a vehicle fire from witness Don Mills.
The residents of the property were not home at the time. No injuries were reported.
Crews from the Crawfordsville Fire Department were able to extinguish what flames remained upon arrival, saving nearby structures and other farm equipment.
“We got called out here for a fully involved semi, and it was all but burned by the time we got here,” CFD firefighter Justin Sparrow said. “There was still quite a bit of flames, but pretty much the whole cab was all burnt. You couldn’t even really tell it was a semi.”
Mills, whose family owns the farm on which the semi was located, was working on the property with his son when the pair heard the tires on the semi begin to explode.
“It was a big ball of fire,” Mills said of the 2013 Freightliner.
Mills speculated the fire may have been caused by a short in an electronic plug-in used to keep the engine block warm, though results of a pending investigation are forthcoming.
Responding agencies included Crawfordsville Fire, Crawfordsville Police and the Montgomery County Sheriff’s Office. Waynetown and Alamo volunteer fire departments prepared to send tankers to the scene but were disregarded en route.
