AUGUSTA — A tractor-trailer carrying food was badly damaged by fire Thursday afternoon while parked at a hotel parking lot on Anthony Avenue in the Augusta Business Park.

The truck, operated by Gordon Food Service of Grand Rapids, Michigan, was parked beside the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott at 14 Anthony Ave., across from the Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles office.

Battalion Chief John Bennett of the Augusta Fire Department said the fire, which was reported at about 3 p.m., was likely caused by a mechanical issue in the truck’s refrigeration unit.

Bennett said no one was injured during the blaze but all of the food in the trailer was destroyed.

A Gordon Food Service tractor-trailer burns Thursday afternoon in the parking lot in front of the Fairfield Inn & Suites by Marriott at 14 Anthony Ave. in the Augusta Business Park. Kennebec Journal staff photo by Dari Alpi

Bennett said that when crews arrived, the refrigeration unit at the front of the trailer was on fire and flames were making their way into the cab and outer portions of the trailer.

He said firefighters worked quickly to make sure the truck did not roll forward and to place booms — filters that allow water to pass through but collect fuel — around the scene.

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Bennett said firefighters notified the Greater Augusta Utilities District and the Maine Department of Environmental Protection because diesel fuel and oil were leaking from the truck.

Bennett said two 55-gallon diesel tanks ruptured, but not all of the fuel leaked onto the road.

“I don’t know the exact quantity,” he said. “I would say we lost enough that it was flowing down the road.”

A small area near the hotel’s driveway and parking lot was cordoned off with caution tape, which hampered the flow of traffic.

Booms were visible in puddles of water a couple of hundred feet south of the scene.


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