Four people are lucky to be alive after the truck they were travelling in left the Nazko Highway, flipped in the ditch and caught on fire, said Quesnel RCMP Sgt. Richard Weseen Monday.
Weseen said on Sunday, July 19, 2020, at approximately 12:09 p.m. police responded to the single vehicle rollover, 110 kilometers west of Quesnel.
Some local citizens heard the crash and assisted, removing all four occupants from the vehicle before it became engulfed in flames and emergency crews arrived.
One occupant was transported by ambulance with non-life threatening injuries, while local citizens transported the other three occupants with minor injuries to the hospital.
As the truck burned, bystanders used fire extinguishers to keep the fire from spreading into the forest. Emcon and the Cariboo Highway Rescue Team then worked in conjunction to contain and put out the small brush fire, Weseen said.
“Although it seems the rain hasn’t stopped for weeks in the Cariboo, we can thank Mother Nature for the damp forest and foliage as it certainly stopped the spread of the fire during this incident,” Weseen noted, adding there was a high potential of a wildfire being started because of the vehicle fire.
Police said alcohol is believed to have been a factor and the investigation is ongoing.
On Friday, police responded to a motorhome collision at Two Mile Flats.
Read more: Single vehicle collision at Two Mile Flats in Quesnel sends one to hospital
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