Cotton trailer catches fire on Highway 84 for second time in 8 days

ROSCOE, Texas — For the second time in eight days, a truck hauling cotton caught on fire on Highway 84.

The truck was hauling a load of compressed cotton bales from Seminole to Houston at about 4 p.m. on Friday when the driver realized that the trailer was on fire.

The driver pulled the truck over north of Roscoe and disconnected the trailer and as a result of his swift thinking, traffic on Highway 84 was not affected.

The cotton will likely burn for a few days, according to a spokesperson for the Sweetwater Fire Department.

The cause of the fire is unknown.

The spot where the the truck stopped is less than a mile from where another truck hauling cotton caught fire May 10, and in that case, the burning trailer full of cotton had to be pushed off of the road by fire crews.

More from the Roscoe Volunteer Fire Department

At 3:20 this afternoon we got paged out to another 18 wheeler fire with cotton bales. The driver was able to pull the trailer off the road and out of traffic before unhooking. The truck was saved but the trailer and load was a total loss. Thank you to Sweetwater Fire Department for responding for mutual aid even though nothing could be done but let it burn, and Nolan County Sheriffs Dept for traffic control. After they were released we stayed to provide fire protection in case it got out of control and kept it from crossing the highway where a couple of oil tank batteries were. We made a call to TxDOT and they brought out a loader and helped us pull the trailer out of the pile and spread the rest of the bales out to finish burning them off. A massive THANK YOU to TxDOT!!! We drenched the area after it was mostly burned off. If there is any spark ups it will be minor and shouldn't cause any traffic delays or other problems.