Berkeley garbage truck fire snarls North Shattuck traffic
The incident unfolded at Shattuck Avenue and Vine Street on Saturday morning. Many readers shared photos and tips with TBS.
The contents of a garbage truck caught fire Saturday morning, filling the air with smoke and causing the truck to dump its load in one of Berkeley's busiest neighborhoods.
The incident unfolded at Shattuck Avenue and Vine Street shortly after 10 a.m.
Berkeley Fire Battalion Chief DeJuan Turner said the operator was driving on Shattuck when he realized his bed full of cardboard was on fire.
He was able to dump the debris in the street so firefighters could put it out.
Turner said firefighters had to use foam to put out the blaze due to the density of the material.
City workers then used a large vacuum truck to clear the foam from the street.
The foam is not toxic, Turner added, "but it's good to clear out of drains" as a precaution.
Public Works and city refuse workers helped with the cleanup operation.
Berkeley garbage truck fire, from top left: roseman127 (two photos of the burning truck); Donna LaFlamme (smoke rising); Hap Allen (foam in the street); Pam Johnson (firefighters spray foam into the truck bed).
After putting out the fire, the city loaded the garbage truck onto a large tow truck, and worked to clear the street of debris with the help of a backhoe.
"It's more of an operation because we can't move the truck," Turner said.
The truck sustained some damage in the fire, including to the hydraulics, he said. There were no reported injuries.
The incident wreaked havoc on traffic in the popular North Shattuck commercial district, which gets especially busy weekend mornings.
"Traffic onto Shattuck was totally blocked by cones and officers in both directions – at Rose and at Vine," said local resident Eric Scheie. "Henry was also blocked at Rose for an event. This caused additional chaos with long lines of cars trying to get around everything."
Many readers alerted The Scanner and shared photographs from the scene.
