Trash fire extinguished by Onset Fire Department

May 10, 2022

An ABC residential trash truck was on fire Monday at noontime as high winds whipped through Onset.

On Tuesday, Captain Ryan Quinn recounted the event. He assisted on the scene Monday.

“[The driver] saw smoke coming out so he went to a spot where there were no houses around,” Quinn said.

The driver pulled into a parking lot near CW Bishop Avenue, where he was met by fire trucks.

Quinn said Chief Jeffrey Osswald instructed the driver to dump the trash to prevent the truck itself from catching on fire and so crews could have room to work to put out the flame. 

“Luckily, we got the trucks there at the same time as he was dumping it so we were able to contain it,” Quinn said. “Otherwise, we would have had flying fire.”

After the fire was out, the firefighters called for another dumpster from ABC. The town’s front-end loader was used to scoop up the trash so it could be hauled away.

“They did a remarkable job,” said Quinn. “With all that trash blowing around, we didn’t find a single piece in the center or anything.”

Quinn praised the company’s response: “Kudos to ABC for doing a proper clean-up and making a bad situation good.”

The department posted a video of the scene on Facebook. See it embedded below.