A month-and-a-half-old Richland fire truck is toast after it’s engine blew up, destroying the truck and sparking a blaze along Interstate 82 Monday afternoon.
The truck lost power and brakes before the firefighter did an amazing job of pulling the now-on-fire truck over to the side of the interstate about 2 miles outside of Finley.
Flames from the engine set the brush on the right side of the road on fire as was the median after wind gusts pushed the flames there.
15 acres of grass and brush burned before firefighters from Benton County fire districts 1, 2 and 4 extinguished it.
The smoke snarled westbound traffic for about an hour, the firefighter was not hurt, the truck was fully insured (Skeeter Brush Truck – $215,000) and no other property was damaged.