Andy Hill had just parked in the back parking lot of the downtown YMCA at about 8 a.m. today when he looked behind him to see flames engulfing his truck bed.
Within minutes, the fire had melted the back window and utility box of his white 2004 GMC Sierra truck — which was parked against the back fence line — despite his efforts to douse the blaze with a fire extinguisher.
Station 1 Columbus firefighters arrived soon after a YMCA patron called 911, and quickly knocked down the fire. Hill wasn”t injured and no other property was damaged.
Although firefighters said the cause of the fire has not been determined, Hill said the fire seemed to have started near three new batteries he was carrying in the truck bed, under the utility box.
The batteries, which had flat terminals for use in dump trucks, may have been jostled into something sharp, puncturing one of them, he said. He also told firefighters he had possibly spilled diesel fuel in the truck bed recently.
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