BRADLEY — A Medway man’s new pickup truck was demolished Wednesday after it caught fire due to what appeared to be an electrical problem.

Deputy Ryan Fitch of the Penobscot County Sheriff’s Office said the fire began shortly before 6 p.m. on Route 178, when David Powers turned on the air conditioning in his 2014 Chevrolet Silverado 2500HD crew cab pickup and began to feel heat coming into the cab.

Powers pulled over and discovered that his truck, which only had about 1,900 miles on it, was on fire. The fire, which occurred north of the Maine Forest & Logging Museum at Leonard’s Mills, spread into the grass and had nearly reached the nearby woods before Bradley and Old Town firefighters extinguished it.

The truck was completely destroyed, the deputy said, adding that the fire burned so hot that it melted the engine. The truck was insured.

Powers was on his way home from working in the Ellsworth area when the fire happened, Fitch said.

Powers suffered a burn to his thumb but did not require a trip to the hospital, Fitch said.

At the time of the fire, the truck’s auxiliary fuel tank had 30 to 40 gallons of diesel in it and was carrying a couple of buckets of hydraulic fluid, Fitch said.

Fitch said the sheriff’s office investigated because the fire began while the vehicle was in motion.

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