French Fry Truck Goes Up In Flames In Walmart Parking Lot

A truck carrying thousands of pounds of Burger King French fries caught fire in the parking lot of a Walmart in Maine on Tuesday.

The truck carrying 40,000 pounds of fries was on its way to New Jersey when the driver pulled into the Walmart parking lot on Wal-Mart Commons Drive in Waterville, the Portland Press Herald reported. The driver said he detected the smell of smoke coming from the back of the truck. No one was injured after the fire broke out in the busy parking at around 7 p.m.

Waterville Fire Chief David LaFountain told the newspaper the fire posed no threat other than causing traffic.

"It would be more of a danger if it were something hazardous, but it looks like ordinary combustible material," LaFountain said.

The driver, who wished not to be identified, could not say what caused the fire. LaFountain said the fire was most likely caused by overheated brakes in the truck.

The truck, which set out from Prince Edward Island in Canada, is operated by a company named Midland Transport Limited, which is based in New Brunswick, the newspaper reported.

Tuesday's fire comes two weeks after a FedEx truck crashed into a bus on a California Highway that ended with a deadly fire. Ten people, including the drivers of both vehicles ,were killed. The bus was full of high school students on their way for a visit to Humboldt State University.

The mother of one of the students who died filed a $100 million lawsuit against FedEx on Tuesday, claiming the company was negligent and that their trucks are prone to catching fire because of mechanical malfunctions, the Associated Press reported.

Investigators do not yet know what caused the truck to strike the bus on the highway in Orland, 100 miles north of Sacramento, the AP reported