The truck drivers had stopped in Rolla to get fuel, got back on the interstate, and managed to drive only about 10 minutes down the road before they noticed smoke and fire. They called 911 at 4:17 p.m., and were able to unload one of the cars from the truck before the fire got too hot to risk removing more vehicles.
The first firefighters on the scene were from Doolittle and knew they’d need help.
“The first arriving unit saw the cab and two of the cars were on fire with heavy fire conditions; immediately they asked for mutual aid from other departments.
Rolla firefighters sent a 75-foot aerial ladder truck to apply foam to the truck.

The good news is nobody was hurt and the ambulance that responded went home empty.

This information is off of the Times-Herald of Forrest City, Arkansas article by Alan Smith:

The driver, George Burns of Sandy, Tenn., was not reported injured. Burns works for Allied Systems in Memphis and had eight vehicles on the hauler’s trailer at the time of the blaze.

Shane Dallas, SFC Emergency Management Coordinator, was at the scene and spoke to Burns about what happened.

“The driver stated that he had a blow out and pulled over to get out of traffic,” said Dallas. “He got out of the cab and saw that the rubber on the tire was on fire. He tried to put it out himself with a fire extinguisher. After he figured out that he couldn’t put it out by himself, he tried to remove the trailer so the vehicles he was hauling would not get caught in the fire.”

Dallas stated that Burns told him that he heard a loud pop caused by the fire, so he got away from the hauler. “Seven out of eight of the vehicles he was hauling were heavily damaged in the fire,” Dallas said.

UPDATE from a co-worker of the driver that posted on carhauler.com

I’ll try to get this straight, the driver was given the truck as a spare, the truck had been written up before for brake problems in the recent past, I think just the day before. Anyway, the driver had to make a split pickup at our Ford yard in Memphis, then go across the Ms. river to our GM yard in Ar. About a distance of 25 miles. When he pulled into the GM yard the RR brake on the tractor was smoking so bad drivers said you couldn’t see the tractor. He called back to the shop and they sent an outside jobber to the yard to disable the brake and they claim they told him to bring the truck back to the terminal, 25 miles back to Memphis. The jobber is giving the company a written statement that he told the driver to take the truck back to the termimal. While the jobber worked on the brake , the driver finished loading the truck. The driver claims the jobber told him it was ok to run the load before he took it to the terminal, this was not a city load, it was a road load to Pine Bluff, Ar. The driver did not what to go back to Memphis and switch the load over to another truck. So he took off westbound instead of eastbound towards Memphis. He got about 25 miles and said he saw the tire coming apart, he stopped and it was on fire , he tried the fire extingusher but it just flamed back up. He didn’t know exactly how to release the 5th wheel , but finally got the pin released and got back in the cab just in time for the rear window to blow out. Then a passerby told him he needed to get out of there, he grabbed is clothes bag and got out. Looking back he should not have driven the truck at all after the brake was disabled. It should have been put out of service right then and there. The company or it’s agent (the jobber) should not have told him it was ok to drive either to the terminal or to finish the load, what ever the truth is he would probably not have made it back to the terminal and would have burned up in downtown Memphis. The company used Art. 40 section 6b, because it calls for subject to discharge on the first offense. Flagrant disobeying of orders only calls for a reprimand on the first offense. At this point the driver is out of work , not able to get unemployment because he was fired, and is applying for welfare. wdnj

ALBANY, N.Y. — An Albany teen is facing charges after police said he stole a car from a car carrier, then crashed it into a parked van.

Anthony Colon, 17, was arrested Tuesday night and charged with third-degree grand larceny and second-degree criminal mischief, along with vehicle and traffic violations.

Police said the incident started in the parking lot of 935 Central Avenue. A tractor-trailer car carrier pulled into the lot to unload vehicles to be delivered to a nearby car dealership.

One of the employees witness Colon get into a 2004 Nissan Sentra, which had just been taken off the carrier, and drive of westbound on Central Avenue. The employee called 911 and reported the incident.

Moments later, two Albany police officers spotted the stolen car speeding down Clinton Avenue. They turned their patrol car around to try and catch up to the car, but it had already crashed into a parked van and a fence at the intersection.

Colon was taken into custody without incident. He was arraigned in Albany City Criminal Court and sent to Albany County Jail.

An automobile transport truck smashed into an overhead railroad trestle on Loop 323 just south of Texas Highway 31 west about 10:40 a.m., sending two of the vehicles smashing into the street.

No injuries are reported. However, debris from the trestle fell onto a car that was traveling behind the transport truck.

Traffic is reduced to one lane while the accident site is being cleaned.

The trestle and truck were damaged by the impact. The transport truck was carrying new Chevrolet pickup trucks. Two of the trucks were knocked from the top level.

http://www.tylerpaper.com/article/20080303/NEWS08/263438821
Anybody familiar with that area know how high that trestle is? I wonder if that load was chained or strapped down. It isn’t often you see a vehicle come all the way off let alone two of them.

More pictures posted here taken by reporter Kenneth Dean.

Here is a picture of the damaged Tucson. There may be white paint transfer on the truck that hit it

4-14-18 Well NO info came in and Matt paid out $6000 for damage he didn’t do! Hope things get better for you Matt