Horsley Park: Recycling truck explodes on M7

Fire crews are working to confirm the cause of a dramatic garbage truck fire on a major motorway in Sydney’s southwest where strong winds caused flames to jump the road.

Fire crews are working to confirm the cause of a dramatic garbage truck fire on the M7 Motorway at Horsley Park on January 21.

Fire crews are working to confirm the cause of a dramatic garbage truck fire on the M7 in Sydney’s southwest on Tuesday night.

The recycling compactor truck was travelling along the motorway, carrying a load of cardboard, just after 6.15pm when it caught alight at Horsley Park.

The blaze spread quickly in a westerly direction, igniting adjacent grassland.

“Driven by swirling winds, flames jumped an M7 on-ramp and across The Horsley Drive,’’ Fire and Rescue NSW (FRNSW) said in a statement.

“Authorities were forced to block northbound lanes of heavy traffic as the Rural Fire Service called in Fire and Rescue NSW crews to assist firefighting operations.’’

A FRNSW Rescue crew was forced to cut through the steel body of the truck to access the seat of the fire and crews managed to “extinguish the aggressive blaze after a series of explosions”.

An FRNSW aerial platform was also brought in to attack the fire from above.

A heavy recovery vehicle eventually moved the destroyed truck clear of the motorway.

Firefighters suspect the fire broke out in the vehicle’s engine compartment.

Originally published as Horsley Park: Recycling truck explodes on M7