Mobile rubbish fire

Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
Photo by Gerard O'Brien.
Firefighters work to extinguish a fire in a Keep it Clean truck on Three Mile Hill Rd, Dunedin, yesterday morning.

The truck was carrying rubbish to a landfill when it caught fire.

Roslyn station officer Howard Weir said the Fire Service was called just after 11am.

Thick black smoke was billowing from the truck, caused by discarded tyres which were burning.

Fortunately, the truck had a large hatch at the top of its container, ''so we were able to apply plenty of water and let it soak through'', he said.

More than 1400 litres of water was used to control the fire, and it ''is pretty much impossible to determine what the ignition point was''.

The fire served as a reminder to be cautious when discarding items, he said.

Gerald Cayford, of Keep it Clean, said the truck was not normally used as a rubbish truck, but was used to transport by-products from butcheries and supermarkets.

However, yesterday it was doing a rubbish run to the landfill when the incident occurred. The truck was insured, and may be written off given the damage.

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