Corks fly in wine truck fire in Wyoming, US

Sunday, September 6, 2009

In Wamsutter, Wyoming, US, a fire crew were trying to put out a fire of a wine truck on a highway when they received an unexpected surprise.

Wine corks started to burst out of the wreckage as bottles started to explode from the heat. Wyoming Highway Patrol Lt. Scott Keane said: "The corks were popping out of the bottles like the old Jiffy Pop (popcorn) we grew up with. My trooper got hit in the arm with one."

But luckily, as Keane commented, no one was killed or seriously injured and the truck driver managed to escape the fire, which occurred on Thursday after a crash on Interstate 80.

The intensity of the fire caused the tires on the trailer to melt down and the trailer to burn down to its wheel axles, damaging 75 feet of pavement in the process.

	The corks were popping like Jiffy Pop
—Lt. Scott Keane

Keane stated that the cause of the fire was likely to be either a locked brake or a hub malfunction. It is currently unknown what the value of the loss in the fire was. The Wyoming Department of Transportation have commented that there was nothing left of the cab or trailer and the remaining bottles of wine from Oregon and Washington had disappeared overnight.

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Sources

"Crews dodge flying corks in wine truck fire" — MSNBC, September 6, 2009
"Crews dodge flying corks in Wyo. wine truck fire" — ABC 13 National News, September 6, 2009
"Firefighters dodge flying corks in wine truck fire" — Seattle Post Intelligencer, September 5, 2009

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