RED LION, DELAWARE (8/6/2016) A driver escaped without injury when his tanker truck carrying 1,000 gallons of engine oil caught fire along southbound Route 1 near Red Lion this morning, Delaware State Police said.
Delaware City and Christiana firefighters were dispatched at 7:23 a.m. to the burning Craft Oil Corp. truck just north of the Route 72 exit.
Police said Virgil M. Patterson, 53, of Middletown, was driving a 2009 Freightliner southbound approaching School House Road when he heard a loud bang and initially thought he had blown a tire. But smoke began billowing into the driver’s compartment.
Patterson pulled the truck to a stop on the shoulder of the road, where the engine compartment became engulfed in flames.
Patterson attempted to put out the fire with an on-board extinguisher, but the flames quickly spread.
A passerby helped to move Patterson away from the truck until firefighters arrived and extinguished the blaze.
Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control, Delaware Department of Transportation and Belvedere Fire Company hazmat teams remained to clean up contaminants for about 3½ hours, with lane closures and traffic delays on the highway.