Truck fire closes section of M18 in Co Clare

Pat Flynn

A section of the southbound carriageway of the M18 motorway in Co Clare had to be closed for a time last night after the cab of an articulated lorry burst into flames.

The incident occurred shortly after 9.00pm at Derrygarriff close to the Tubber Road flyover on the motorway just north of junction 15 at Crusheen.

The driver of the lorry managed to bring his vehicle to an emergency stop mostly in the hard shoulder but partially in lane 1. The driver escaped from his cab safely and raised the alarm.

Units of Clare County Fire and Rescue Service from Ennis station along with Galway Fire and Rescue Service crews based in Gort were mobilised to the scene along with gardaí.

The southbound lanes were quickly closed while fire crews set about tackling the blaze with firefighting foam.

Firefighters wearing breathing apparatus battled for some time to extinguish the fire which was confined to the cab and prevented from spreading to the trailer which was carrying a consignment of cardboard.

Fortunately, there was little or no wind at the time which allowed the thick smoke billow straight upwards and not across the motorway which may have resulted in the northbound carriageway being closed also.

A little over an hour after emergency services arrived at the scene, after the fire had been brought under control, it was safe enough to open one lane of the carriageway and clear the backlog of traffic. Fire crews set up and emergency traffic management (EMS) system and opened lane 2 while still able to safely operate at the scene.

Once the fire had been completely extinguished arrangements were made to have the vehicle removed from the scene. The route was fully reopened shortly before 2.00am.

Traffic Infrastructure Ireland motorway maintenance crews also attended the scene to assess any damage that was caused to the road surface.