Contents of Turlock Scavenger truck catch fire Wednesday morning

On Wednesday, September 29th, 2021, at 10:34 am, the Turlock Fire Department was dispatched to a reported vehicle fire at the intersection of N Olive Ave and Moonbeam Way, Turlock.

When firefighters arrived on scene, they found a Turlock Scavenger truck with smoke emitting from its garbage storage space. Firefighters had the truck’s driver dump his load in the middle of the intersection and they confirmed that that was what was on fire.

Firefighters were able to quickly bring the fire under control and put it out shortly after. The fire was contained to the truck’s load and did not extend to the truck itself.

Crews remained on scene for an extended period of time to assist with clean up.

The Turlock Police Department provided traffic control while this incident was on-going.

Turlock Scavenger would like to remind its customers to properly discharge of batteries and other hazardous materials and to throw items in the correct bin. The truck involved in this incident was assigned to empty recycle bins, however, non-recyclables were found in its load, including some batteries, which possibly ignited the fire.