PROSPECT — Stained rags left in a bucket in the bed of a pickup truck are to blame for a fire that destroyed a pickup truck over Memorial Day weekend.
Prospect firefighters responded to 15 Mixville Road at about 10:45 a.m. on May 28, Prospect Fire Marshal Keith Griffin said.
When firefighters arrived the pickup truck was engulfed. Griffin said it took about 90 minutes to put the fire out.
Firefighters prevented the blaze from spreading to the garage of the home, which was about 5 feet away from where the truck was parked, he said. While firefighters were putting the fire out, he said, they also kept spraying water on the garage to ensure the fire did not spread.
Although the siding of the garage melted due to the heat, the garage didn’t catch fire, Griffin said. The truck was completely destroyed.
Griffin said the cause of the fire was the owner of the truck, who is a painter, put rags covered with paint and stain in a bucket after he was finished working on May 26. The bucket, which had a lid on it, heated up in the sun over the weekend until it finally caught fire on May 28, he said.
