It’s been a busy week for The Villages Public Safety Department.
On Friday, in an unusual twist, firefighters battled a blaze that came to them. The driver of a Hewitt Environmental Services truck that was hauling a dumpster loaded with burning construction debris pulled into the back parking lot of Station 44, located at 3035 Morse Blvd., shortly after 1:30 p.m. A motorist had alerted the driver to the flames shooting out the back of his truck as he was headed to the nearby landfill.
Firefighters quickly scrambled into the parking lot to battle the blaze. The driver tilted the load for easier access and the flames were extinguished in about three minutes. The driver then continued on to the landfill to dump his load.
On Wednesday night, Villages firefighters and their colleagues from Sumter County Fire and EMS battled a hay fire on County Road 470 between County Road 501 and the Florida Turnpike.
Crews from Villages Engines 46 and 47, along with Attack 45 and a battalion chief, joined with Sumter County firefighters on Engine 21 and Tanker 12 to fight the flames shooting from rolled hay that was being transported on a gooseneck flatbed trailer. The incident took place shortly before 10 p.m. and it took firefighters more than three hours to get the flames under control.
