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A truck fire shut down Sunrise Highway’s eastbound lanes near Exit 49 in Sayville for nearly two hours Monday afternoon, causing major traffic delays, police said.
The fire broke about 12:09 p.m. and involved a Gershow Recycling truck, which came to a stop on the shoulder of the highway, across from the Sayville Plaza shopping center. Police said the truck was fully engulfed in flames when emergency crews arrived.
All eastbound lanes were temporarily closed while firefighters extinguished the blaze and cleared the scene. No injuries were reported.
Witnesses said traffic backed up for miles
Star Shear, a barber from Bay Shore who was driving westbound on Sunrise at the time, witnessed the fire just as first responders were arriving and recorded the scene on video.
“When we passed by, just the top front part of the back trailer was lit on fire,” she told Greater Long Island. “Traffic was just starting to back up, and the cops were just starting to get there.”
Shear said she was returning from an errand in Yaphank when she spotted the burning truck pulled over on the shoulder.
Traffic heading east was backed up about two miles, according to drivers in the westbound lanes.
Top photo: Vinny Carrozza/Facebook (as posted in the Facebook Group “Shirley and the Mastics. Our Town, Our Community, Our Home!“). Inset: Video still from video taken by Star Shear.
