Baddeck transport truck fire 'could have been a lot worse,' RCMP say
Angelo Laporte and his wife were driving through Baddeck, N.S., Monday night when they came across a large transport truck carrying multiple new cars engulfed in flames parked at a service station.
"There was a lot of heat, could feel it from the road," said Laporte.
The couple drove past the burning vehicles and then went back to shoot video of the fire, and first responders soon arrived.
Emergency crews were called to the fire at 9:30 p.m. RCMP closed the road as firefighters got the fire under control.
'Could have been a lot worse'
"It certainly could have been a lot worse," said Const. Eric Latwaitis.
The truck had pulled into the Ultramar station on Highway 105 to fill up. Latwaitis said the driver of the truck and a passenger smelled fuel in the cab before the fire started. He said it appeared the transport truck had been carrying eight new vehicles headed to dealerships in Sydney.
The tractor trailer and five of the cars are a writeoff.
"Responding officers, when they arrived, they found the driver and passenger and they were quite upset ... feeling very fortunate they escaped," said Latwaitis.
He said part of the service station caught fire.
Laporte said every so often, you would hear another one of the new vehicles catching fire.
"It just kept going car to car," he said.
While the cause of the fire isn't known yet, police don't believe it was suspicious.
The service station is expected to remain closed for the duration of the investigation.
"First thing they'll be looking at is the fuel, the line and if there was a fuel leak that would have landed on the hot engine, that potentially could have been the point of ignition," said Latwaitis.
As of 6 p.m. Tuesday, the Facebook Live video Laporte recorded of the incident had been viewed close to 16,000 times.
