21.07.2008

Crane fire closes road

A section of the busy A1 Motorway near Seaton Burn in the UK is likely to remain closed for most of the day after an All Terrain crane caught fire on a slip road this morning.

Fire engines from Tyne and Wear and Northumberland were called to the scene, and extinguished the flames fairly rapidly, but it is expected to take most of the day to clear oil and foam from the road surface.
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The crane this morning

The crane owned by local crane rental company, Winterlift, is reported to have caught fine after suffering a hydraulic leak.

Vertikal Comment

This is the second crane that has caught fire in the region in less than four weeks, and looking at reports that come in, most of which we do not report on. It would seem, that the likelihood of an All Terrain crane catching fire is way too high?

It may well be that the occurrence of fires on cranes is no greater than on large trucks, but circumstantial evidence would suggest that this is not the case. We would be interested to hear from your views on this. [email protected]