A TRUCK burst into flames on Bussell Highway this afternoon and a Margaret River witness caught it all on video.
No one was hurt but Peter Swanson is happy to have stopped and helped in the situation.
He and his wife were driving home from Perth and almost reached Busselton when they saw a large semitrailer parked by the road. Noticing smoke from the truck’s engine, they decided to pull over and ask the driver if he needed help.
“I asked if he was okay,” Mr Swanson said.
“He said he had been driving about 100 kilometres an hour when he smelt something hot.”
The driver, appearing to be in his 30s, was holding a fire extinguisher in his hand as Mr Swanson approached and had called emergency services. He had another man with him, believed to be a passenger.
Minutes later, there was a small spark in the engine and the fire started.
“It took a while to get going but it was so hot,” Mr Swanson said. “There was nothing that could stop it.”
The huge flames took over the truck’s cabin, set some of the nearby trees alight and billowed black smoke metres above into the sky.
Mr Swanson and the driver were worried about the safety of people driving by, with a small chance the truck could blow up.
“The driver wasn’t upset, he was super concerned,” Mr Swanson said.
“I went across the road and slowed people down.”
By the time fire emergency services arrived, a few minor explosions had gone off but nothing to cause harm. The fire was put out in less than an hour.
