PHOTO: Like a torch. A truck was on fire on the D5 motorway, complicating traffic near Prague
Central and Prague firefighters set off for the fire, which engulfed the truck in full on the third motorway kilometer, shortly after half past four in the morning.
What happened on the highway was already indicated by phone calls from witnesses reporting a fire on the emergency line. “The first caller said that the tarpaulin truck had a flat tire and now the wheel is smoking and sparks are flying out. Another has already stated that he saw the truck on fire, “said Tereza Fliegerová, a spokeswoman for the Central Bohemian fire brigade.
Before the flames could be overcome, the motorway in the direction from Prague to Beroun and further to Pilsen and Rozvadov remained completely closed. After all, the project would not even be possible; in the section between motorway kilometers 2.7 and 3.3, the fire would not allow it.
The operating center sent professional firefighters from Beroun, a unit of volunteer firefighters from Rudná – and at the same time asked for inter-regional assistance from the Prague fire brigade, who sent professional units from the stations in Petřiny and Smíchov, Flieger specified. With fire brigade firefighters deploying four water jets.
“They managed to bring the fire under control at five o’clock in the morning. The Beroun professionals subsequently used the PRO / pak foaming device to expose hidden cuts, “the spokeswoman explained. He managed to free at least the left lane for a slow and careful passage four hours before seven.
It was not enough – although the driver of the tractor still managed to drive into the parking lane – and probably precisely because of the consequences of the fire on the D5, he did not even avoid the drivers heading to Prague on the D1 motorway from Benešov. A convoy formed in front of the place with the burned-out truck, while the traffic complications were also transferred to the D0 or the Prague ring road in the direction of “to the airport”.
The columns with a large number of trucks reached the level of Jesenice – they lengthened. In the busiest moments, incoherent clusters of vehicles, most likely related to the transmitted effects of the fire on the D5, also appeared in Modletice before entering the ring road from the D1 motorway.
On the D5, a column of about four kilometers with a more noticeable delay was also formed in the direction of travel to Prague. There was nothing to prevent the passage, but at the level of the burned-out truck, the drivers slowed down so they could see what was going on in the opposite direction.
Due to the collapse of the motorway, traffic also increased on detours, not only on road II / 605, which runs parallel to the D5, or on the Prague Southern Junction, which is an alternative to the Prague ring road. The complications did not escape the buses, which were delayed due to the collapse of traffic and changed routes.
Police initially estimated that traffic restrictions at the fire site could be up to half past eight. However, gradually updated information suggests that the burned-out truck will probably interfere in the right lane until the afternoon. Its removal will be ensured by the highway maintenance center together with a specialized company.
The exact circumstances of the incident remain under police investigation. Even at the time when the police were still working on the spot, the firefighters were still quite clear. “The cause of the fire is a technical defect on the trailer wheel. The damage was preliminarily calculated at one million crowns, “stated Fliegerová.