The Trans-Canada Highway was closed near Field, B.C. for over 10 hours Wednesday morning (Jan. 5) as firefighters from Alberta and B.C. worked to douse the flames from two wrecked semi-trailers.
The two commercial vehicles appeared to be heading in opposite directions when they collided. There were only minor injuries reported and Golden RCMP is still investigating the cause of the crash.
The Lake Louise fire department was called to the scene west of the Spiral Tunnels shortly before midnight and started spraying the two wrecks as the Field Fire Department worked on the trucks from their end, emptying their tanker truck four times, according to Deputy Chief Ed Clayards of the Lake Louise fire department.
It took about four hours to finish the job, said Clayards, including travel time to refill their water tank once.
Clayards said wrecks of this type don’t usually involve this much fire. “It’s pretty rare that they burst into flames like that,” he said. “It wasn’t even the gas tanks on fire. It was just the engine compartment.”
Clayards said when they arrived, the tractors had completely burnt down to metal and the trailers were on fire. There was no danger of extensive environmental damage as both trucks were only hauling timber and food products.
