Local News

Cows Survive Trailer Fire

(La Porte County, IN) - A fully loaded cattle truck heading to a slaughterhouse in Chicago caught fire this morning in La Porte County.

 

Fortunately, none of the 37 heads of cattle appeared seriously injured.

 

Coolspring Township Assistant Fire Chief Warren Smith said the back tires on the trailer caught fire possibly from the heat of the brakes locking up on the Indiana Toll Road near Westville about 4 a.m. He said the truck pulled onto the shoulder and a police officer with a fire extinguisher tried putting out the flames. It took about 15 minutes for firefighters to extinguish the rest of the blaze.

 

The flames generated enough heat to melt the aluminum trailer at the very back end and catch the fiberglass roof on fire at the back end of the trailer. 

 

According to Indiana State Police, a local farmer put ten cows on his trailer to take some weight off the fire-damaged two-level trailer. The fire-damaged trailer was then dragged by a tow truck to a parking lot a short distance away to begin the process of continuing the trip to the slaughterhouse.

 

“Westville got there first. They had most of the fire extinguished by the time we got there,” Smith said.

Police said both westbound lanes were closed for about 30 minutes to remove the trailer from the premises.  

 

Experts believe some of the cows very likely could have died had fast work not been done in putting out the fire. 

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