Shredder truck catches fire, sets woods ablaze

As a truck full of paper burns on Routes 5 & 10 in Northampton, a city firefighter, right, battles a brush fire ignited by the truck fire.">

By Owen Boss

Staff Writer

NORTHAMPTON - City firefighters worked quickly Tuesday morning to extinguish a truck filled with paper that ignited and started a small forest fire on North King Street.

The fire, which resulted in the early closing of Pioneer Valley Spine and Sports, began on the side of the road at about 10:30 a.m., fire officials said.

The Northampton Fire Department responded to the scene at 766 North King St., after it was reported that a truck belonging to Wilbraham's ProShred Security Inc., a security company that shreds business documents, had caught on fire.

Plumes of dark smoke rising from the burning truck, which was fully loaded with paper, rose more than 50 feet into the sky and could be seen as far away as King Street.

According to Deputy Fire Chief William Hurley, two fire engines and about a dozen firefighters were dispatched to the scene, one of which was stationed to protect Pioneer Spine and Sports from the fire while the other prepared to use a nearby fire hydrant.

According to Jessica Izquierdo, an employee at Pioneer Spine and Sports' West Springfield office, the Northampton branch was closed early and employees were sent home after downed power lines cut electricity to the building.

At the nearby Sunoco gas station, a crowd of onlookers stood and watched as flames pouring out of the roof of the truck began setting adjacent trees on fire and spread several yards into the forest lining the street.

After National Grid workers cut electricity to several overhead power lines that the truck had ignited, firefighters used foam to extinguish the fire inside the truck and then used water to fight the brush fire.

While crews battled the blaze, state police blocked the entrance to Interstate 91 and rerouted traffic from King Street down Coles Meadow Road. Though traffic was reportedly rerouted for more than an hour, there were no lengthy delays.

Hurley said the cause of the fire is still being investigated by Assistant Fire Chief Duane Nichols. But he suspects the truck's shredder was the likely culprit.

"It was a processing truck that shreds paper, and something catching during the shredding process was what probably caused the fire," Hurley said.

The driver of the truck was Nelson Guzman, a ProShred Security employee.

Hurley said both the truck fire and the fire in the woods nearby were completely extinguished shortly after power crews cut electricity. He said the truck, which was not ruled a complete loss, was eventually towed away.

Owen Boss can be reached at oboss@gazettenet.com.