Firefighters put out blaze at tanker company after welding accident

The City of Ekurhuleni’s Disaster and Emergency Management Services firefighters on Gauteng’s East Rand have responded to a welding incident at a fuel truck company in Hillcrest, which caused two articulated trucks and one rigid truck to catch fire.

According to reports one articulated truck was fully loaded with 40 000 litres of petrol in the main trailer and an additional 15 000 litres in a so-called ‘pup trailer’.

Another articulated truck’s trailer was empty but still posed a significant risk due to a potential vapour explosion.

Services spokesperson William Ntladi says firefighters used foam to extinguish the flames and suppress chances of petrol igniting.

“It was quite risky as well as many other companies in the surrounding areas were subjected to this incident which was stuck to be a catastrophic type of an incident should it actually have got out of control, looking at the amount of fuel that is inside the company.”