OCEAN CITY – A minor garbage truck fire on Roosevelt Boulevard caused major traffic backups around 5 p.m. Wednesday, Aug. 13.
Ocean City Fire Chief Bernard F. Walker said the engine compartment of a garbage truck caught fire on the shoulder of the westbound lane between Bay Avenue and the Roosevelt Boulevard bridge. He said the crew of the truck had notified the fire department so firefighters arrived early.
Walker said the department had to shut down traffic to run hose lines across Roosevelt Boulevard from the hydrant.
“Fire department operations, securing a water supply and extinguishing the fire, blocked the road in both directions,” he said. “The guys (on the garbage truck) called right away and we were there very quickly and extinguished the fire very quickly,” Walker added.He added the closure lasted 30 to 40 minutes. It was during a peak time when people are getting off work and beach-goers are leaving the island.
“We have to investigate every car fire so we had the roadway shut down … and it caused a pretty significant backup there,” Walker said.
Those backups hit both main routes into and out of Ocean City – Roosevelt Boulevard and the Rt. 52 causeway, causing long delays in Ocean City. The incident also caused backups in Somers Point and on the Garden State Parkway with vehicles trying to get off at Exits 25 and 29.
Drivers in Ocean City redirected from Roosevelt Boulevard in Ocean City to Ninth Street reported traffic backed up all the way to 18th Street on Bay Avenue.
Those trying to head into Ocean City at Exit 25 on Roosevelt Boulevard were forced to turn around just before the bridge and sent back to the parkway and north to Exit 29, where traffic was stalled all the way onto the parkway.
“The engine compartment was on fire so we had to extinguish that and make sure we contained any fluid leaks and things of that nature,” Walker said. “It wasn’t the rear compartment of the garbage truck, which would have been a much more serious incident.”
– By DAVID NAHAN/Sentinel staff