Tanker truck carrying buttermilk catches fire on interstate in southwest Virginia

SMYTH COUNTY, Va. (WJHL) — A truck carrying buttermilk burned on I-81 in Smyth County early Monday morning.

According to a post from Marion Fire-EMS, crews were called to mile marker 48 on I-81 North around 3:40 a.m. on Monday, Nov. 29 for a report of a tanker truck on fire. When crews arrived, they discovered the back of the tanker truck was burning.

The post states the truck was carrying buttermilk.

The driver was reportedly unaware that the trailer was on fire and had to be alerted by a deputy from the Smyth County Sheriff’s Office who pulled the truck over.

“The crew extinguished the fire beneath the tank, and cut two holes in the outer skin of the trailer in order to put out fires in the foam insulation,” fire officials said.

Marion Fire-EMS reports no one was injured in the fire and the scene was cleared in an hour after the fires were extinguished.