Truckie tunnel heroics

The bravery of a truck driver averted what could have been another Burnley Tunnel inferno.

The truckie kept driving to get a 35,000-litre load of diesel fuel out of the tunnel as flames leapt from his prime mover.

Smoke began pouring into the cabin as the Caltex tanker went through the tunnel.

By the time it neared the exit, the prime mover was engulfed in flames. But the truckie kept going, pulling over well clear of the tunnel.

A fire brigade incident controller said it was a brave effort by the driver.

Emergency teams managed to get the fire out minutes before it melted the tank and ignited the fuel, Cdr Wayne Garrard said.

"It would have been pretty hairy," he said.

"Another few minutes and, as aluminium melts pretty easy, off she'd go."

Cdr Garrard said the driver told him the fire started in the tunnel and he drove on to get it out of the confined area.

"If he'd hit something or run into another truck and ruptured the tank, we could have had real problems," Cdr Garrard said.

"He did a pretty good job to pull it over the way he did without causing any accidents to anyone else."

A Caltex spokeswoman said the company was carrying out its own investigation of the incident.

WorkSafe Victoria spokesman Michael Birt said vehicles carrying dangerous goods were not allowed in CityLink tunnels, but diesel was regarded as hazardous cargo rather than dangerous.

A local anti-truck action group said the incident highlighted the need to get trucks off the road and to transport dangerous goods by rail.

"This just highlights the vast amounts of truck traffic on our roads," Elwyn Davies of the Maribyrnong Truck Action Group said.

"One thing we'd like to see is more goods being transported by rail."

Source: Mike Edmonds, The Herald Sun