A tractor-trailer carrying over forty thousand pounds of powdered animal fat created quite the mess this past Thursday evening in Walton, Kentucky. The tractor-trailer caught on fire around mile marker 75 on Interstate 71 northbound, shutting down the highway for multiple hours. The driver of the truck was able to safely separate the cab from the trailer, which housed the highly flammable animal fat powder.
“You put water on it and it stirs up the powder. The dust being an animal fat byproduct, it flares up like that,” stated Walton Fire Chief, Tom Ollier.
The highway first shut down around 9:30 a.m. Thursday morning and didn’t open again for good until 10:45 p.m. Foam trucks from Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport were ultimately called in to help put out the blaze.
