Vehicle Burst Into Flames On Interstate

SIDNEY – There were no injuries reported by the Nebraska State Patrol in an evening vehicle fire on Interstate 80 Tuesday night.

Holly Armstrong of Red Cloud was driving her 1999 Chevy Trailblazer westbound at 6:15 p.m. when she noticed that the vehicle had caught fire. Armstrong was able to pull her vehicle to the shoulder of the interstate at mile marker 64, where she exited it before it became engulfed by flames.

The vehicle was ablaze when the Sidney Volunteer Fire Department arrived on the scene. Winds had helped spark a small grass fire off the shoulder of the westbound I-80 lane, which firefighters quickly doused. Fire Chief Keith Stone said the grass fire burnt less than one-eighth of an acre of property.

The vehicle fire reached temperatures so hot that it burned away all vehicle identification numbers as well as license plates, Stone said.

The cause of the fire had not yet been determined Wednesday morning.

According to Stone, 18 Sidney firefighters took a grass rig, pumper and rescue truck to the scene.