A utility trailer fire closed U.S. 17 North for about a half hour in Bridgeton Wednesday afternoon.
According to Bridgeton Police Chief Rick Barney, the trailer was being pulled through Bridgeton at about 1:15 p.m. by a Chevy Tahoe driven by James Koch Jr. of Vanceboro when it caught fire. Koch, with an unidentified passenger, was pulling used furniture and appliances they had picked up at a home to be sold at Paw Paw’s Thrift Shop in Vanceboro.
When he realized the trailer had caught fire, he pulled to the side of the road by the Morris Blueberry Farm building.
The Tahoe was unattached from the trailer, and the passenger drove it on to Vanceboro to notify the shop’s owner, Barney said, while Koch remained with the trailer.
Firefighters from Tri-Community extinguished the blaze, but the trailer and all the items on it were destroyed.