A truck driver described the scary moments when his 18-wheeler caught fire near a gas station in Miami-Dade. NBC6’s Amanda Plasencia reports
Video showed an 18-wheeler go up in flames on a roadway in southwest Miami-Dade early Thursday.
The truck's cab became fully engulfed in flames at the intersection of Krome Avenue and Southwest 200th Street around 3 a.m.
The driver said he had been refueling the truck with diesel when he noticed it catch fire.
“I was at the gas station, pump number 7. I was almost finished but something was wrong. The smoke started to come from inside the truck," said truck driver Ruben Eng.
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He quickly jumped in and drove away from the gas station, potentially avoiding a major disaster.
“The fire come very fast," Eng said. "In less than 30 seconds all truck was completely on fire."
Surveillance video showed the truck erupting in flames with the driver nearby.
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Luckily the driver only had minor burns to his ear and arm.
But the fire destroyed the semi-truck, burning it down almost to the ground. Miami-Dade Fire Rescue put out the fire when they arrived but those who work at the gas station are calling Eng a hero.
“He saved so many people’s lives around here," Arnaldo Sanchez said. “He did a heroic thing because he moved knowing that the fire had started and risked his life just to get that truck out of there because if that truck would have just lit up there, everything would have been gone here.”
“He was actually very courageous for this," said Anthony Eng, the driver's son. "He did a wonderful job. He moved it.”
Eng owns the truck so his livelihood is affected as most of the truck and trailer was charred to a crisp and was deemed a total loss.
“It makes us sad because of the hours that we put into this and money into this," Anthony Eng said.
But Eng said he is grateful that he was able to use his instincts to save the gas station.
“I’m no hero. In that moment you never know what you do in that moment," he said.
The cause of the fire is under investigation.
