A fire that started in the engine compartment of a semi-truck caused $1 million in damage at a family-owned trucking company in Wisconsin, authorities said.
Twelve fire departments responded to Kreilkamp Trucking in Allenton, an area of the town of Addison, after receiving a call shortly after 5 p.m. on Friday, the Washington County Sheriff’s office said in a statement. The caller said they had attempted to extinguish a fire in a semi’s engine compartment but that it grew rapidly.
The fire spread inside a 30,000-square-foot pole shed, housing a total of three semis and corn seed, cotton and wood shavings, the sheriff’s office said. The caller fled trucking company’s facility and shut the door to deprive the fire of oxygen.
Firefighters ultimately extinguished the blaze before it could spread elsewhere. But they declared the pole shed and everything inside a total loss.
The fire did an estimated $1 million in damage to the structure. Authorities did not provide an estimate for the loss of the trucks and the bulk commodities.
Authorities did not immediately say what led to the engine fire. A message to the Allenton Volunteer Fire Department, which led the response, had not been returned as of Sunday.
Kreilkamp has a fleet of around 300 power units, with terminals in Horicon, Wisconsin, and Edison, New Jersey. The carrier does temperature-controlled and dry van services in the Midwest and Northeast.
The carrier has been owned by the Kreilkamp family since the business’ founding in 1935. Company President Tim Kreilkamp had not responded to FreightWaves’ request for comment as of Sunday.
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