An exploded reefer burned truckload of specialty pumpkins at a small Texas farm over the weekend.
The fire happened in a truck loaded with pumpkins at the Assiter Pumpkin Patch in Floydada, Texas on Sunday, September 24th.
“The reefer on one of our trucks exploded, caught the truck on fire and burned a whole semi of pumpkins up,” explained Tim Assiter, the owner of the farm. “I think the key to that semi that burned is we had a lot of our specialty pumpkins in it. They were the blue pumpkins, the pink pumpkins, some of the fairy tales, some of the Cinderella; some of the things Floydada is famous for is what we had in that truck. And we were getting them to mix in boxes to go out wholesale across Texas and New Mexico and Oklahoma.”
Although the loss was made even greater by the drought and extreme heat this summer, which yielded 40% less pumpkins than usual, Assiter says that he’s happy it was only the pumpkins that were lost, and is calling the trucker a hero.
“The driver is doing okay,” said Assiter to Everything Lubbock News. “He took a huge risk to save his truck and disconnected that; it melted the interior of his sleeper on his truck as he moved it. He was a hero to jump in that truck and get out.”
“We’re trying to just laugh it off the best we can, talking about [how] we’re having a fire sale and, ‘Come get them while they’re hot,’” Assiter continued.
“We are very optimistic about next year and we’re going to do what we can this year to get you your pumpkin with the conditions that we have to work with,” said Assiter. “Next year is going to be a great year. We’re going to have the Great Pumpkin and Charlie Brown.”