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DEH GAH GOT'IE KOE/FORT PROVIDENCE
A truck driver had a narrow escape early Saturday morning when the cab of the transport truck he was sleeping in caught fire.

A truck driver escaped uninjured when the cab of his truck started on fire early Saturday morning while he was sleeping inside. RCMP officers who happened to be at Big River while on patrol at the time helped wake up the other truck drivers and called the Fort Providence Volunteer Fire Department, which was on the scene within approximately 15 minutes. - Roxanna Thompson/NNSL photo

Stan Randle isn't sure what woke him. Randle, from Thunder Bay, Ont., was driving back to Hay River having delivered a load of diesel fuel to Yellowknife.

Around midnight, Randle, who works for Ventures West Transport LP, stopped at the Big River Service Centre outside of Fort Providence and got into the cab's sleeper to get some rest. Randle said around 2 a.m. on Feb. 18 either the sound of something popping or the smell of burnt plastic woke him up.

Randle could see smoke coming up from under the hood of the transport truck and through the dash. Thinking he had time to get some of his belongings out, Randle put on his socks and then his pants. The situation, however, quickly changed.

"By then the flames had erupted and started coming through the dash," he said.

Randle grabbed his coat off the back of the seat and escaped out the driver's side door in his sock-clad feet. He then started going door to door to the other nearby transport trucks parked in the yard to alert the drivers to move their rigs out of harm's way.

Randle said RCMP officers who happened to be at Big River while on patrol at the time helped wake up the other truck drivers and called the Fort Providence Volunteer Fire Department, which was on the scene within approximately 15 minutes.

By that point, Randle said the cab of the truck was engulfed.

'There's nothing left'

"There's nothing left," said Randle, looking out from a window at the service centre across the yard to where the remains of the cab were still sitting on Saturday morning.

Randle said the fire department did prevent the fire from damaging the super B tankers that he had been hauling.

As of Saturday, Ventures West was sending one truck to move the tankers and a second to move the remains of the cab.

Randle thanked the staff at Big River for their help during the ordeal.

"The people who operate and work here are fantastic," he said.

Staff members opened the business during the fire so Randle could come inside. They also lent him a pair of shoes and a shirt to wear. Randle later bought a shirt and a hoodie at the store to wear because the rest of his clothing had gone up in the fire.

Randle said he lost all the personal effects he used to live in the truck for three-month stints at a time including clothing, a laptop, various electronics and pairs of glasses. In 20 years of trucking, Randle said this is the first time something like this has happened to him. He said he wasn't certain what caused the fire.

Staff at the service centre said the incident was drawing a lot of local attention. Fort Providence residents had been coming in all Saturday morning to look at and take photos of the transport truck.

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