A fire near Johnson City left a vehicle destroyed on May 4, but the heroic actions of a teen girl and her driver saved the lives of all seven horses they were carrying.
A collision between a truck pulling a horse trailer and another vehicle caused a fire just before 6 p.m. that day. The truck and trailer rig had an auxiliary tank carrying about 80 gallons of diesel fuel. The rear end collision then set the truck and rig into flames and created a very dangerous situation. The rig was carrying seven horses valued at over $1 million.
“We were paged out for a vegetation fire at 5:53 p.m. which quickly thereafter turned into a fully involved vehicle fire with a livestock trailer with seven horses aboard,” said Ryan Keith, Johnson City Volunteer Fire Department vice president.
