A Maine truck driver escaped death and/or injury two times in one night.
According to the Bangor Daily News, both brushes with death occurred on Friday evening on Interstate 95.
The first incident began as truck driver Lance Vangel, 51, was heading north on I-95 near the 251 mile marker. Shortly before 7:00 p.m. Vangel noticed a small flame under the dash of his truck. He quickly pulled the truck off the highway.
Vangel told the Bangor Daily News that he barely had time to get the truck off the road before the entire rig was engulfed in flames.
Vangel was able to get out of the blazing truck and out of harm’s way.
Trooper Ben Campbell arrived at the scene a short time later and shut down the highway from Medway to East Millinocket while fire crews worked to extinguish the blaze.
One of Vangel’s coworkers, Charles Hoyt, came to pick him up.
The pair didn’t make it 10 miles down the road before the truck Hoyt was driving left the roadway and went into the median.
Trooper Campbell, who assisted Vangel at the fire scene, arrived at the scene and found that Vangel again escaped uninjured.
Hoyt wasn’t as lucky. He suffered some cuts to his head and was taken to a local hospital for treatment.
The trucks didn’t fare as well as the drivers. Both trucks, owned by Scamp’s Transport, are likely a total loss.