Thursday night on Expressway in Manorville lit GardaWorld armored truck carrying $2 million.
The cause of the fire police believe a mattress that was lying on the roadway near Exit 69.
Pete Seurer, one of the officers on the scene reported that the truck driver later saw a foreign object on the road and not had time to react and avoid it. However, he was confident that just moved the mattress, but it turned out that he caught on the axle of the truck, the car some time dragging it behind them on the road.
«He apparently traveled about a mile or two. The friction of the mattress on the ground probably gave a spark, and it lit up. This is a great heavy duty truck, so the cab driver didn’t even notice what happened,» said Sgt.
Three people inside the truck, smelled smoke about 8:30 p.m., looking back, they saw flames at the bottom of the truck. Fearing that the car might explode, they immediately jumped out of it and called the fire Department. While rescuers from Manorville extinguished the fire, employees of GardaWorld not departed from the car, worrying about the precious cargo.
«Three employees looked much disturbed,» said Seurer.
The first thing the firemen wanted to make sure that the fire did not damage the cargo, but the key to open the back door failed because it was warped from the heat. Then they tried to cut door hinges with a chain saw, but nothing happened.
After this it was decided to cut a hole in the roof of the truck, where upon opening there was thick smoke.
When the key is on the back door finally worked, the frightened employees of GardaWorld immediately climbed inside to check the contents.
«Some bags are a little melted because the flame was under the truck, it was like a frying pan,» said first assistant chief Phil Zackman.
Fortunately, it turned out that the deformed bag was empty, and the money was lying on the floor. They were wet, but not burned.
2/28/2018 Thurs 8:30pm in Manorville NY — Armored truck fire on w/b LIE btwn ex 69 & 68 #manorvillefirefept #scpdhwypatrol #GardaWorld #ArmoredCarFire #ArmoredTruckFire #Linews #LongIslandNews #Lipatch @longislandpatch pic.twitter.com/cHQF3b0bHb
— LiHotShots (@LiHotShots) March 1, 2019
Police believe a mattress, which became the cause of the fire had not been on the road too long. He probably fell from the roof of a passing car on the highway.
The police said that they quite often receive calls about other objects lying on the roads.
«You’ll be surprised how much stuff falls on the road from passing cars. That ladders, wheelbarrows, added Soarer. But the weirdest thing was the mannequin.»
Employees of GardaWorld were not injured, but the truck had to be towed back to base.
