A large plume of smoke filled the sky in Brownwood as a trailer full of insulation and other flammable materials caught on fire Wednesday afternoon on Cottage near the railroad tracks and Avenue C.
Brownwood Fire Department arrived to find the trailer fully engulfed in flames and quickly put out the blaze. Firefighters wore oxygen masks as they put out the fire due to the chemical nature of the trailer’s contents. According to Travis Hopkins, an employee of Seal-Tite Insulation Company which is the owner, the trailer contained insulation, solvent and diesel fuel.
“I don’t know what happened,” said Hopkins. “We had been working in the trailer this morning and had loaded it with about $2000 worth of insulation; solvent and diesel fuel was in there too.”
Hopkins had returned home for lunch when he noticed the trailer on fire.
“Everything we use to do that part of the business was on that trailer,” said Hopkins.
Hopkins also expressed thankfulness that the fire, which caught a small area of grass on fire, did not threaten any homes in the area.
“I’m just glad the grass was mown short,” said Hopkins.
A neighbor who was on scene said she helps to keep the vacant lot mown. Other neighbors came out of their homes to see what was on fire and were thankful that it was not a home; even more thankful that it did not develop into a larger grass fire which could have threatened homes in the area.
Pictured above are firefighters working on “mopping up” the charred remains of the trailer and its contents. Below are more photos of the fire scene.
Picture taken from the intersection of Austin and Coggin, smoke plume at Cottage and Avenue C.
