Tanker fire sparks alert

By Sarah Schwager
EMERGENCY crews helped stop a gas tanker from exploding last week after a fire started under the tanker’s bonnet in Lyndhurst.
Police said high winds may also have helped prevent the LPG tanker from catching alight.
The semi trailer had just left a petrol station and was travelling north along the Westernport Highway in Lyndhurst last Thursday when the driver noticed a fire under the bonnet of his prime mover.
He pulled off the highway at Monash Drive just after 2am and fled the truck before calling the fire brigade, with crews from Hallam, Hampton Park, Dandenong, Skye, Cranbourne and Carrum Downs attending.
He met the brigades further down the road.
They then worked to cool the tank and used foam to extinguish the truck fire.
The fire burnt out the prime mover part of the truck but the tanker containing propane gas remained intact, although slightly burnt.
Police said the wind was blowing from the rear of the tanker, driving the flames from the prime mover away from the gas tank.
As a precaution a large radius around the tanker was blocked and police had to wait for a thermal imaging device to check that the tanker was cool before it could be moved.
A heavy haulage tow truck was used to pull the rig clear of the LPG tank and was transported with a different prime mover.
No one was injured in the fire.