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Van fire reported in westbound lane of Thruway, East Pembroke

By Howard B. Owens

A van fire has been reported in the area of mile marker 396.1 of the Thruway.

Several callers reported the fire.

East Pembroke and Town of Batavia have been dispatched.

A chief reports the fire was knocked down with available fire extinguishers while awaiting fire truck response, but the fire is starting to go again.

UPDATE 3:56 p.m.: Traffic is stopped in the westbound direction.

UPDATE 5:27 p.m.: Fire units cleared the scene some time ago and traffic is starting to flow again. Photo by Destin Danser.

Chuck Lowder

When I got there (on Kieffer Rd. dead end), the fire company just got the fire out and trying to get the hood open when the engine compartment flamed up again. They put that out then they got the hood opened. Looks like all the back tires were burned off as the rear of the bus was sitting on the ground.
Just down on the side of Kieffer Rd. a tad there were about 10 or so teens that looked like they were of the India decent (couldn't really tell as I couldn't get a good look at them). When we left, a State Trooper was talking to one of the adults in the group.
I viewed the scene from about the same area that the photo above was taken.

Jun 11, 2010, 8:57pm Permalink
Destin Danser

Chuck, were you the guy in the car sitting there watching the scene? I rode my bike down to snap the photo after I saw the initial post, and there was a guy just sitting there in his car watching. When I left, they had just started putting the van on a tow truck.

Jun 13, 2010, 11:04pm Permalink

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