At 2:17 am on Monday morning, the Lawrence County Dispatch received a 911 call reporting a semi truck hauling cars was on fire at Hwy 63 and Lawrence 219 just north of the Rest Area. Black Rock Fire Department was paged and responded to the area to find the semi and several vehicles on board in flames.
The Imboden Volunteer Fire Department was then paged for assistance as the fire grew more intense. The semi was carrying a total of nine vehicles, according to the driver, as he drove past the rest area he noticed smoke coming from one of the trucks axles, he then pulled the truck over to the shoulder of the road and attempted to extinguish the fire with a portable fire extinguisher. The fire spread from the semi to the cars on the trailer, completely destroying 5 of the 9 on board.
Lawrence County Deputies and Arkansas State Police arrived on scene and stopped all traffic on Hwy 63. Ravenden Volunteer Fire Department was requested to assist and arrived shortly thereafter. Firefighters fought for over an hour to contain the blaze. AET Ambulance of Imboden arrived on scene for medical standby.
Dail’s Wrecker Service of Ravenden was called to the scene and arrived with two large wreckers and two rollback trucks to begin removing the wreckage from the roadside. By 4:30 am officers were able to allow one lane of traffic through while firefighters from Black Rock were still on scene containing hot spots left in the fire. The fire spread to the highway right of way but was contained by firefighters.
There were no injuries reported in the incident, the cause of the fire is not known.
For more information on the Imboden Volunteer Fire Department, visit www.imbodenarkansas.com .
For more information on the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office, visit www.
For more information on AET Ambulance of Imboden and Walnut Ridge, visit www.aetambulance.com .
