Highway 30 traffic back to normal after semi fire

UPDATE: No one was injured when a semi-trailer truck started on fire Thursday morning along Highway 30 near Cedar Rapids.

Darren McGowan, 42, of Nichols, was hauling a full load of lumber from Iowa City to Marion around 7:40 a.m. when he said a wheel bearing failed on the trailer. He noticed it when he was eastbound between Dogwood Drive and Jappa Road.

“It started pulling hard,” McGowan said. “By the time I pulled over, there was a little bit of smoldering. But by the time I got out my fire extinguisher, it was going.”

McGowan said he tried to put out the fire with his fire extinguisher, but it ran out. About that time, Ben Petty was driving by.

“I heard an explosion when I went by him, so I backed up,” said Petty, 35, who works for the Iowa Department of Transportation. “He ran up to me and said he needed a fire extinguisher, so I gave him mine and called 911.”

Petty's fire extinguisher ran out, too, but firefighters quickly arrived. Petty was pulling a large electronic sign with his orange DOT pickup, so he activated arrows so oncoming traffic knew to merge left.

“I just happened to have this sign with me,” Petty said.

The fire burned up rear tires on the trailer and damaged the aluminum flatbed, but only blackened some of the lumber before firefighters doused it with water.

The semi is owned by Cascade Holding, McGowan said.