Driver flees blazing truck
A Taupo driver had a lucky escape when h|s truck caught fire on the Hatepe Hill, about 10 miles south of Taupo, early on Monday night. Mr J. Hopkins managed to get the burning vehicle to a clearing free of scrub before abandoning it. He was unhurt. Fire gutted the cab of the empty articulated truck and trailer, and paint on the outside was blistered. Mr Hopkins was driving the Pettigrews Freightways truck back to Taupo about 5 p.m. when he noticed the cab heating. Further up the Hatepe Hill flames started
leaping round the engine. After managing to park the vehicle in a clearing, he had trouble opening the cab door, but managed to jump to safety before the flames reached him. The Taupo Fire Brigade used foam to quell the blaze, which was soon under control. The deputy chief fire* officer, Mr A. T. Maynard, praised the sensible action of the driver in getting the burning truck to a safe place. "The Hatepe Hill is narrow and winding and very dangerous, and he managed to get the truck in a very safe position, away from surrounding scrub," he said.
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/TAUTIM19740620.2.12
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 49, 20 June 1974, Page 1
Word count
Tapeke kupu
195Driver flees blazing truck Taupo Times, Volume 23, Issue 49, 20 June 1974, Page 1
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Taupo Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in