While my mom and I were driving to Los Angeles, we passed through Tuscon and stopped to visit my sister. We were 75 miles outside of Tuscon when we were brought to a sudden halt. Literally about 500 feet in front of us, a semi had blown a tire and jack-knifed on the freeway. It had flipped on its side and was lying across the three lanes of road (the driver survivied!). We arrived upon the scene and immediately pulled over to the side of the road. It was then that we realized that the cab of the truck was on fire. Several other truckers had pulled over and were running towards the small fire with their mini fire extinguishers. In a matter of minutes, the small fire that had started at the very front of the semi quickly engulfed the entire length of the truck - the entire thing was in flames! Again, this is all happening about 500 feet in front of us. Of course, me, having seen way too many movies, I am waiting for the thing to explode. However, my fears dissapated when our trucker buddies explained that semis run on diesel fuel, which is less flammable than regular gasoline. So, instead of exploding, it just burned! And burned and burned and burned....
We were pulled over on the side of the road for about two hours while highway patrol, local police, local fire fighters and road crews worked on putting out the fire and clearing the road so cars could get past the wreckage. As we waited, I thought to myself, "This is a 'God bless America moment'." In this, our great country, when things like accidents happen, we have a system in place that immediately takes action to fix it. Citizens know that they need to pull over and be patient. Police and fire fighters work together to solve problems and everyone cooperates. The bottom line is we live in a great country!
Plus, how often do you get to see an entire semi truck burn to the ground?! As sick as this sounds, it was kind of cool...
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