Nobody was hurt when a tractor-trailer carrying trash caught fire at the entrance to the Village Square Shopping Center in Tabb on Wednesday morning.
Units from the York County Division of Fire and Life Safety responded to the fire after receiving a report of a vehicle fire at about 9:45 a.m. While those units were traveling toward the shopping center, they saw a large column of heavy black smoke rising from the direction of the fire, Assistant Chief Paul Long said.
“They knew they had a large working fire,” Long said.
Additional units were summoned, including units from the Newport News Fire Department and Langley Air Force Base Fire Department. The fire was under control within 20 minutes, but as of 11:45 a.m., it has not yet been fully extinguished, Long said.
Along with trying to extinguish the fire, crews are also working to control a diesel fuel leak. The fuel is currently contained. Hazmat crews from York County and Newport News are on scene.
Commonwealth Drive, which runs from Victory Boulevard to a pair of residential neighborhoods behind Village Square and the adjacent Victory Crossing Shopping Center, is currently blocked at Victory Boulevard. Long said the block will likely remain closed for several hours as crews work to clean up the scene.
Long said it is unclear how the fire began.
“Due to the amount of damage that the tractor and trailer have sustained, determining the cause is going to be difficult if we’ll be able to do so at all.”
The driver of the tractor-trailer was not harmed. Long said the vehicle is mostly, if not fully, contained in the entrance to the shopping center near Pizzeria Uno’s.
Fire officials are working with the Newport News Police Department, York-Poquoson Sheriff’s Office and Virginia Department of Transportation to establish a detour.
