Food Truck Burns In Middle Of Intersection
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) - A food truck caught fire late Saturday morning at East Alameda Avenue and Crystal Street.
Vicente Rueda was behind the wheel of the Chapina La Mexicana truck when it suddenly stopped before bursting into flames.
"The next thing you know, we see the motor just flaming up," Rueda said. "The first thing I thought was call 911 and move away from the fire."
Rueda's father-in-law, Fernando Rodriguez, has owned the truck for five months, and just made thousands of dollars in repairs.
"When I got the call the first thing I thought was, 'Is everyone was okay?' That's what's going to be most important," Rodriguez said. "The truck is a truck, they come and go, and business will start and they'll end, but you can't replace somebody's life."
Rodriquez started the business as a favor to a friend.
"At that moment, she didn't have a job. She's going through her papers for immigration. Part of the thing with immigration is you need to be working with an ITIN number, and you need to be showing that you're paying Uncle Sam," Rodriguez said. "Now she's out of a job and we've got to plan our next steps."
The fire appears to have started in the engine compartment.
Joan Godshall saw the fire as she exited a nearby mall.
"I saw this black smoke. It was a truck on fire," she said. "It was up in flames."
Aurora Fire Rescue asks all drivers to pull over and stay clear of emergency vehicles responding to and arriving at scenes.
There were no injuries, according to Tony Krenz of Aurora Fire Rescue.
Even though the truck is a total loss, Rodriquez knows it could've been worse.
"Just because this happened doesn't mean it's going to stop us," Rodriguez said. "It's just a bump in the road. It's a lesson learned."
The family says they're out $20,000 after the fire destroyed their truck.
Rodriguez has started a GoFundMe page to get the food truck up and running.
Andrea Flores is a reporter for CBS4. Follow her on Facebook and Twitter @AndreaFloresTV.
