Burning Tractor Trailer Filled With Tires Snarls Traffic On I-83

PARKTON, Md. (WJZ) -- Normally a single vehicle fire in the middle of the night does not affect traffic that much, but the fire on I-83 near the Pennsylvania line was anything but normal.

Mike Schuh with the chaos it caused.

The tractor trailer was headed north. The scene was snarled for five hours.

Just imagine rolling up to a tractor trailer chock-full of old tires on fire, and it's your job to put it out.

The Hereford Volunteer Fire Department was first on the scene.

The fire was burning hot. The insulated tractor trailer was full of tires -- tires that do not easily go out when sprayed with water.

"No, it doesn't cut it. You've got to keep the fire suppressed--and the water's not doing that. The foam will put a layer on the fire and keep it down and allow us to start pulling the tires out," said Lt. Scott Bachman, Hereford Volunteer Fire Department.

They brought in foam trucks from the airport to finally get the fire under control.

By 9 a.m., the fire was out. Construction equipment had to move all the tires to a dumpster so they could get the road open.

Luckily for the driver, he wasn't hurt, and was quick-thinking enough to disconnect the tractor from the trailer and drove it away to safety. No one else was hurt, either.

The fire started when the brakes on the trailer locked up, overheated and started the trailer's tires on fire, which spread to the used tires inside.

Maryland State Police say the driver did nothing wrong in this case, and there were no traffic violations.