A gasoline tanker truck erupted into flames Sunday in the Fort Worth area after colliding with another vehicle and bringing down power lines, authorities said. The crash left the tanker leaking near a gas station, and Fort Worth fire officials said the electrical hazard sparked the fire in the early morning hours.
Fort Worth Fire Department spokesperson Craig Trojacek said the 18-wheeler was carrying about 9,000 gallons of gasoline and that the fuel began leaking after the truck spun off the road near a gas station. He said the downed power lines then sparked a fire around 1 a.m.
Trojacek said the driver was trying to keep the gas from draining into the parking lot of the Valero gas station when it lit off. He said the driver was hospitalized with burns and was in critical condition, while Trojacek said no one else was injured.
Fire crews spent hours on the scene, Trojacek said, spraying the tanker with water and using sand to try to contain the gasoline. Trojacek said firefighters left the scene around 7 a.m.
Images and videos of the incident showed the front of the truck engulfed in flames as smoke rose. A witness, Bailey Moss, said he was staying with a friend nearby when he heard “a loud crash” and peered outside.
Moss said “the fire spread quickly” and that “you could feel the heat even from a distance,” describing the blaze as “pretty intense.”