Authorities said northbound traffic on U.S. Hwy. 441 was temporarily blocked Monday afternoon due to a fire in an 18-wheeler truck.
According to Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills, the tractor-trailer was hauling 30 pallets of automotive batteries from a Hyundai facility in Ellabell and delivering them to Covington.
“The truck driver was just south of Flat Rock when he noticed smoke coming from the back of his trailer,” Sills said, noting the time was a few minutes after noon.
The truck driver, identified as Jorge Conrado, 56, of Kissimmee, Florida, immediately stopped and disconnected the trailer, then moved the tractor a safe distance away.
Putnam County Fire Department, firefighters of C-shift Battalion 1, Engine 10, Truck 30, and Engine 2, responded to the scene and talked with the driver to identify the trailer’s contents, said Fire Chief Thomas McClain.
“One or more of the pallets were on fire, and we were able to put it out using water and firefighting foam,” McClain said. “Because it was batteries on fire, we controlled the runoff of the water. And we caught it early, so the truck driver could back the truck up and reconnect it to the trailer and was right back on his way.”
McClain said the cause of the fire was undetermined.