A propane truck fire on South Main Street Monday night caused the street to be closed and evacuations to be made within the immediate area around the fire.
The Ellijay Fire Department responded just after 8:30 p.m. and found the truck at Appalachian Propane fully involved, said Ellijay Deputy Fire Chief Mike Dempsey.
“We did an evacuation out of caution because of the nature of it being a propane truck, and it was in the vicinity of others. Law enforcement came in to handle the evacuation,” he added.
“Crews got water on it and got the tank cooled down and put the majority of the fire in the vehicle out. Once we got everything cooled down and into a safe area, we were able to bring one of Gilmer County’s engines in and use a hand line to extinguish the hot spots and get the fire put out.”
Because the fire was caught in time, it did not spread to any other equipment, Dempsey noted.
“(It) was a big fire with a lot of flammable materials, but everything was contained to that one vehicle. We had a very quick response time and were able to get water on the vehicle before it spread,” Dempsey said.
South Main Street was initially closed from the roundabout to Letch Drive. By a little after 10 p.m., the fire had been extinguished and most of the street opened back up.
Dempsey said a cause for the fire has not been determined.