KNOX COUNTY, Tenn. — A semi-truck carrying several tons of plywood and another semi-truck caught fire on Interstate 40 after the two crashed in East Knox County Friday morning, causing lengthy backups on the westbound side for several hours.
The Tennessee Department of Transportation said the trucks caught fire east of another crash at the Strawberry Plains Pike exit at mile marker 400. As of 1 p.m. Friday, work to clean up the crash site was still underway and causing traffic backups on the westbound side for roughly 4 miles.
According to TDOT, one of the trucks was hauling 45,000 pounds of plywood. The other truck appeared to be a foodservice distributor.
The Knoxville Fire Department and Knoxville Police Department responded just before 1 a.m. to extinguish the flames, saying they arrived to find both trucks on fire in the middle lane of traffic. Two of the three lanes were reopened on I-40 as of 5:30 a.m., and KPD said traffic would be slowed down again during the day as crews worked to clean up the burnt wreckage and material.
The incident is related to a different deadly crash on I-40 West that happened around 9:45 p.m. Thursday a few miles west at the Strawberry Plains Pike exit. According to KPD, the two semi-trucks crashed due to slowed-down traffic that was backed up from the other crash.
