A brake fire on a FedEx truck hauling inert training grenades, ammunition, and sodium hydroxide forced Ohio police to shut down westbound I-76 in Portage County for six hours last night.
Ohio State Troopers were called to the scene of the fire at 10:30 p.m. and found that the brakes of a double box trailer FedEx truck had caught fire.
The truck driver, 64 year old Jackie Johnson, pulled the truck over at the entrance to a rest stop in Edinburg Township after noticing that something was amiss and found that the brakes on the rear trailer had caught fire. Johnson was able to separate the rear trailer from the front trailer and drove the unaffected equipment into the rest area.
Officers were able to put out the brake fire with fire extinguishers.
Troopers Check Billing Papers, Call The Bomb Squad
After troopers inspected the truck’s billing papers, they discovered that the truck was hauling a 60 pound container of inert training grenades and a barrel of unidentified ammunition. The truck was also hauling sodium hydroxide, which can cause chemical burns.
After learning what the truck was hauling, troopers shut down westbound I-76 and called numerous agencies including the Ohio DOT, the Summit County Bomb Squad, and the Ravenna Fire Department.
The Summit County Bomb Squad safety disposed of all of the explosives.
The interstate was reopened around 4:30 a.m. without further incident. No injuries were reported.
It isn’t clear where the truck was headed, but the incident happened near Camp Ravenna, which is an Ohio National Guard training facility.