BETHEL — A full magazine of live handgun ammunition was expended Monday evening when the vehicle it was in caught fire. 

At about 6 p.m., Oxford County Sheriff’s Deputy Sullivan Rizzo responded to the scene of a vehicle fire on Intervale Road. 

Rizzo, speaking Monday, said he arrived on the scene to find a 2003 Ford F-250 pickup truck fully engulfed in fire. 

The driver, Benjamin Tyler of Bethel, was attempting to extinguish the flames when he arrived, Rizzo said. 

Tyler was driving along Intervale Road when he heard a pop underneath the hood and smoke began pouring out, Rizzo said. After Tyler pulled over to the side of the road, the vehicle began actively burning, he said. 

In the conflagration, a full magazine of 9mm ammunition that was left in the glovebox of the truck began to cook off, Rizzo reported. An unloaded Ruger 9mm pistol was recovered from the vehicle after the fire was extinguished by Bethel Fire Department personnel. 

According to Rizzo, the pistol is owned by Tyler’s father, Earl Tyler.

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