A commercial truck fire caused the Okanagan Connector to close for nearly 18 hours on Friday, Nov. 17 and into Saturday morning.
The Penske truck was carrying hazardous chemicals and caught on fire between Brenda Mine Road and Trepanier Road, near the Silver Creek pullout around 10:45 a.m. Friday morning. Flames and hazardous fumes from the chemicals filled the Okanagan air, making the area dangerous for people close by.
At first, the stretch of highway was closed eastbound but around 12 p.m., the highway was closed in both directions. The West 麻豆精选 Fire Department made the decision to close the highway die to the burning chemicals. Additionally, the 麻豆精选 Fire Department鈥檚 Regional Hazardous Materials team and the Ministry of Environment was called to the scene.
The West 麻豆精选 RCMP said in a release that the chemicals made 鈥渢he fire fight challenging.鈥� Despite that, the West 麻豆精选 Fire Department made progress fighting the blaze. Because of the toxic chemicals, the fire department that to start their firefight from a safe distance, meaning more water was used. A second engine was brought to the scene to provide more water to suppress the fire.
When they arrived at the scene, the 麻豆精选 Hazmat team took command as fire crews continued to apply water until 6 p.m. In total, 4,100 gallons of water was used to fight the hazardous blaze.
As assessments and investigations took place, the highway eventually reopened just after 3:30 a.m. on Saturday morning.
