North Oyster Volunteer Fire Department quickly doused vehicle fire along the Island Hwy. Wednesday morning after a pickup truck collided with a logger truck near Cedar Rd. (submitted/Kris Hill)

By Alex Rawnsley

HIGHWAY BLAZE

VIDEO: Driver escapes vehicle fire after collision with logging truck on Island Hwy.

Jul 22, 2020 | 10:03 AM

NANAIMO — A driver survived with serious injuries after a fiery, high-velocity crash south of Nanaimo airport.

Emergency crews were called to the intersection of Cedar Rd. and the Island Hwy. around 5:45 a.m. Wednesday morning to douse a vehicle which had caught on fire after colliding with the back of logging truck at high speed.

Cpt. Kris Hill from North Oyster Volunteer Fire Department told NanaimoNewsNOW the driver of the logging truck likely saved the pickup driver’s life.

“The driver of the semi truck had used a fire extinguisher to suppress the fire when it first happened,” Hill said. “He extricated the driver of the pick up truck himself and dragged him to the side of the road.”

The driver was taken to Nanaimo hospital with serious injuries. The driver of the logging truck was uninjured.

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Crews battled the blaze for approximately 20 to 25 minutes, attacking it from three directions.

Hill said it was a challenging fire given there was no fire hydrant in the vicinity and the need to run long lines and use water tanks.

“The logs that were on the back of the semi truck did go back quite quickly as well due to the intensity of the fire,” Hill said. “It took us a little while to get the fire under control, there was a lot of fluids like oil and gasoline that had leaked from the pickup truck.”

The RCMP are conducting an investigation into the cause of the accident.

alex.rawnsley@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @alexrawnsley