IRISH VALLEY - A 61-year-old Shamokin Township man escaped injury Wednesday when a pickup truck towing a trailer loaded with 13 large rounds bales of corn fodder caught fire after the truck's battery exploded.
Gary Knorr, of Ash Road, was driving on Elm Road toward the intersection with Fir Road when the explosion occurred and engulfed the engine compartment in flames, Knorr said.
He said he exited the cab moments before the truck and its trailer drifted down a hill, crossed Fir Road and crashed over an embankment into the woods. The front of the pickup burst into flames, which spread to the cargo on the trailer. Corn fodder bales are similar in appearance to hay bales.
Two large trees nearby caught fire, too.
Knorr was on his way to the Lloyd Reitz dairy farm in Irish Valley when the incident occurred. The pickup and trailer are owned by Lloyd Reitz.
Reitz said each bail of corn fodder weighed several hundred pounds.
The explosion and subsequent fire caused blacktop at the intersection of Elm Road and Fir Road to melt, leaving heavily charred marks for more than 100 feet.
Firefighters from Stonington responded initially and used water from booster tanks to extinguish flames in the bales, but not before the fire spread to the woods on both side of Fir and Elm roads.
Tanker units from Trevorton and Sunbury were dispatched to provide additional water. A tractor with a front end loader from a nearby farm was used to remove the smouldering bales from the trailer so firefighters could extinguish the flames.
State police at Stonington are investigating the fire and accident, which occurred shortly before noon.