Hit Some Traffic This Morning? Here’s What Happened on I-295

You may have been a little late for work today if you were driving on Interstate 295.

I was driving on Veterans Memorial Bridge on my way home when a lot of smoke caught my eye, however, upon further investigation I noticed that there was a fire. If you were driving nearby, you also probably saw all the smoke in the air.

As I was driving, I noticed what looked to be a truck on fire. I could not see any fire trucks at the scene yet, only one police vehicle that was blocking oncoming traffic.

According to WMTW Channel 8, it was indeed a truck that was on fire in South Portland, northbound on Interstate 295.

Bangor Daily News writes that the truck was carrying hot patch pavement and was traveling from Woburn, MA to Bangor, ME. The truck had multiple propane tanks onboard which only fueled the fire that occurred around 9:20 am.

WMTW Channel 8 states that the road (Interstate 295), opened four hours earlier today, at 7 am, than what was planned due to the replacement of the bridge over Veranda Street that occurred over the weekend. However, it has been noted that the construction of the bridge had no impact on this incident.

Sun Journal states that both directions of I-295 were shut down this morning (Monday, April 25th) with the southbound lane reopening first since the incident occurred between Exit 4 and Exit 5 heading northbound.

According to Bangor Daily News, the cause of the fire is unknown. Maine State Police claim that the truck had recently had maintenance to its propane heating system, so it is possible that it malfunctioned and caused the fire.

Luckily, the fire was put out, however, there is still no word on if anyone was injured during the fire.