Another Pickup Burns to a Crisp

Out Red Bluff Lane, just east of Middle Concho Drive San Angelo firefighters responded to the second pickup fire in three days. The 911 call was received at 4:58 p.m.

The truck was fully engulfed in flames before the fire department arrived. They quickly extinguished the blaze.

No details have emerged as to what the cause of the fire was, but an investigator from the San Angelo Fire Department, Karla Steppe in on the scene.

This truck fire follows the burn of a 1995 Chevy pickup on Knickerbocker Sunday afternoon. Fire investigators said that fire may have originated from the alternator in the engine compartment. It too was a total loss.

Update 6:20 p.m.

“The gentleman was driving a work truck. The vehicle died on him. He pulled over,” Fire Inspector Karla Steppe said.

Steppe said that the driver had been having problems with the truck starting, possibly an issue with the fuel injectors.

“He got some ether and sprayed it on the air cleaner and the vapors ignited,” she said.

The destroyed vehicle is a 2000 Ford diesel pickup.

The highly flammable either was in an aerosol spray can, Steppe said.

The city was fortunate that the driver pulled over where he did, far away from dry brush.

“If he had parked somewhere else, it could have ignited a brushfire. If he had gone another 50-60 yards we’d still be fighting a brush fire,” Steppe said.

Reader Joseph Smith sumitted this video of the truck burning and the SAFD's initial response: