A trash fire was the cause of a nearly two-hour traffic stoppage at northbound Willow and Nees Avenues on Friday afternoon.
The trash was expelled onto the road from the back of a fully-loaded garbage truck after the driver noticed that the rear opening had become aflame.
“The trash truck drivers did a very good job, and they expelled the trash from the truck so that the truck didn’t catch on fire,” said Lieutenant Jim Munro of the Clovis Police Department. “They were able to drop the load in the middle of the street.
According to Munro, the fire began in the back of the truck, but it is unclear what the cause of the fire was.
“We think that there was something in the trash that started it,” Munro said.
Munro says that the Clovis Fire Department responded quickly to the blaze, but the fire took quite a while to extinguish.
The cleanup took nearly two hours, causing the closure of traffic on northbound Willow and Nees Avenues.
After the delay, the roads have now opened again for traffic.