At approximately 8:30 a.m. on April 1, the Athabasca Fire Department responded to a call of a garbage truck ablaze on 56th Street near Landing Trail Intermediate School.
At approximately 8:30 a.m. on April 1, the Athabasca Fire Department responded to a call of a garbage truck ablaze on 56th Street near Landing Trail Intermediate School.
The truck, driven by Athabasca Regional Waste employee Travis Wozniak, had been doing its rounds through the downtown and was en route to pick up the dumpster behind LTIS.
“I looked up and it was just smoking, ” Wozniak said.
According to Wozniak, who has been with Regional Waste for six years, he had picked up approximate 12 dumpsters before noticing the smoke, including those from the Husky and The Brick. The truck was not gathering residential waste and had been empty at the start of his shift.
The truck was purchased in 2011 and the cost a new one could range from $185,000-$225,000 according to Athabasca Regional Waste Commission manager Rob Smith, who stated some parts of the truck could possibly be salvaged because the fire had been mostly contained.
It is unclear what started the fire, which was contained in the truck ’s back end. Wozniak said he noticed nothing smoking when he loaded the dumpsters.
“If you come up to a bin that ’s smoking, you ’re not going to pick it up, ” Wozniak said.
Firefighters worked until approximately 11 a.m. to put the fire out. The fire was complicated by the fact it was contained inside the metal hull of the truck, which had been compacted. The fire had destroyed the electrical connections and the truck couldn ’t be opened to release the load. This forced firefighters to saw through the metal exterior in an attempt to get at the cause of the flames.
Smith said nothing like this has happened before and when the truck is able to be unloaded, they will look for any evidence that could point to what started the fire.
“It could have been something smoldering, or something spontaneous, ” Smith said.
Smith was uncertain what they would find inside the truck that could reveal the cause.
“I don ’t know what it will tell us. It ’s garbage, ” he said.
