Truck catches fire at Seattle gas station

Neighboring businesses were evacuated as a truck fire sent large plumes of smoke into the air at a north Seattle gas station.

The gas station, located in a grocery store parking lot, is at 145th Street and 15th Avenue NE – the border of Seattle and Shoreline.

“I was heading down the street and a saw a truck parked at the gas station at QFC on 145th. It was a really small fire coming out of the top of the truck,” said Jordan Longacre who was passing by the scene. “Once I rounded the corner, within a matter of minutes, those flames spread throughout the entire truck and were going into the gas pump next to it.”

Longacre said that he heard pops and bangs when the flames were at their highest.

“It seemed to take some time before fire crews arrived on scene. So those flames continued to spread and grow larger and larger,” he said. “That’s when police started blocking off traffic and having people turn around…When fire crews arrived they were able to extinguish those flames.”

Longacres said that neighboring businesses evacuated buildings by themselves during the fire. When police showed up, they roped off the area and escorted people away from the scene.

The Seattle Fire Department reported that the fire was extinguished at around 4:50 p.m.

It is unknown how the fire initially started, but Longacre speculated that it began while the truck was refueled.

“It looked like the gas nozzle was inside the gas tank of the truck, and there were flames coming from there. There were also flames shooting out the top of the truck,” he said. “From what I was able to see, it looked like the fire started somewhere near the nozzle and continued to spread.”