Pasta truck catches fire

By Meg Walsh

Published Feb. 24, 2006

Firefighters from Columbia Fire Department responded to a common cooking malady at 5 a.m. Thursday — burnt pasta. But this fire did not take place in a kitchen. Instead, it happened on Interstate 70 when a tractor-trailer full of dried pasta crashed into a guardrail.

According to the Columbia Police Department's news release the accident was caused when the driver of the truck fell asleep.

According to the news release the truck's fuel tanks cracked in the crash. Sparks ignited the leaking fuel and caused the tractor-trailer to catch fire.

Firefighters extinguished the blaze, but the fire caused $7,000 worth of damage to the trailer and its noodle-y contents. The total cost of damage, including cleaning efforts, was estimated at $164,000.

The owner and operator of the fiery pasta trailer walked away from the scene unharmed. The Missouri Department of Natural Resources reported that none of the leaked fuel spilled into the Hinkson Creek due to the efforts of firemen who responded to the scene. The trucking company will be billed for the estimated $7,000 to $10,000 cleaning costs.

I-70's westbound lanes were closed for several hours to clean up after the crash.