Garbage truck catches fire in parking lot on University and Lake
Just in time for finals week
Around noon today a garbage truck was making its rounds near the State Street Starbucks, when it suddenly caught a case of the Mondays. The trash in the bed of a garbage truck violently burst into flames, before the garbage truck driver could attempt to douse the blaze it quickly spread through the contents of the truck.
Student and observer at the scene, Blaine Bestful, recounts what he saw: “Suddenly, I start to smell this weird mix between campfire and burnt plastic, and I look over the top of the Starbucks balcony and saw fire spewing out of the top of the garbage truck.”
As soon as the driver noticed the flames, he turned into the parking lot on University and Lake and dumped the garbage into the parking lot so the truck would not catch flame and risk explosion. Within minutes Madison area fire trucks and paramedics were at the scene blocking off that section of the parking lot to protect the public.
The fire fighters soon noticed the garbage truck was also on fire, and the team needed to split up to douse both the garbage heap and the truck itself.
Blaine recounts his first thoughts after seeing the incident: “I thought it was controlled and supposed to happen. It wasn’t until i heard the guy screaming and the truck peeling away that I knew it wasn’t normal.”