HOUSTON – A truck driver says he couldn’t avoid running over a loose mattress sitting on I-45 North overnight, which eventually caused his big rig to go up in flames.
The incident happened around 11:30 p.m. Tuesday just south of West Road.
The truck driver was heading southbound when a pickup in front of him lost the mattress. The big rig ran over the mattress, and the friction in the 18-wheeler’s wheel well caused the mattress to catch fire.
The fire quickly spread to the rest of the rig, but the truck driver was able to pull over and safely escape.
The resulting fire and cleanup caused a traffic backup for about two hours.
The back of the truck was empty at the time.
As of 4:30 a.m. the cleanup efforts were still underway.