Beer Truck (REVISED)

A refrigerator truck carrying Coors Beer caught fire on the Bay Bridge around 1 p.m. yesterday causing several hours of traffic for commuters.

Officer Shawn Chase reported that the truck’s tire blew out and since the driver did not notice this, he continued to drive. The fire was ignited by metal rim scraping against the pavement resulting in flames on the eastbound lanes. The Bay Bridge was shut down on both the eastbound and westbound lanes while the fire fighters worked to put out the fire. Drivers in the eastbound lanes were stranded in their cars for 45 minutes waiting to see what the traffic was about.

Chase informed us that the driver was not injured, nor were any of the other drivers. However, the accident caused many other backed up highways in the Bay Area and it wasn’t until 2 p.m. that fire fighters were able to put out the fire completely, reopening all of the westbound and some eastbound lanes. The rest of the afternoon was spent clearing the road of the burnt truck which took almost four hours to complete.