Truck loaded with paper catches fire on Maine Turnpike

A tractor-trailer truck loaded with shopping fliers caught fire and burned early Wednesday morning on the Maine Turnpike, shutting down several lanes at the New Gloucester toll barrier.

A toll collector reported that a tractor-trailer had caught fire at 2 a.m. in the southbound lanes just south of the toll booth, said turnpike spokesman Dan Morin.

The burning truck and responding New Gloucester firefighters occupied an area where vehicles merge after the multiple lanes of the toll barrier. Traffic was rerouted to the barrier’s high-speed lanes, Morin said.

The trailer was engulfed in flames and destroyed, along with its full load of fliers, Morin said. The authority had to bring in a cleanup crew with an excavator to remove the burned materials from the pavement, he said.

All lanes of the toll barrier had reopened by 10 a.m., he said.

David Hench can be contacted at 791-6327 or at:

[email protected]

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