Fire Destroys Tractor Trailer Maine Mall Parking Lot

Two people escaped from a tractor-trailer parked at the Maine Mall when they were woken up by smoke pouring into the cab.

According to a Facebook post from the City of South Portland, the South Portland Fire Department got a call of a tractor-trailer fire around 12:40 a.m. in the Maine Mall parking lot near Kobe Steakhouse & Sushi.

When they arrived they found the tractor-trail loaded with produce. They successfully put the fire out, finding two people who had escaped the cab without injury. They had been asleep and got woken up when smoke started to fill the cab. They didn't have cell phones, so they ran to find someone who could call 911. By the time they called, the fire had spread to the cab.

Michele Mullen

The South Portland Fire Department determined it was a diesel fuel fire and estimated that 70 gallons of diesel fuel were discharged. 47 gallons of firefighting foam concentrate was used to extinguish the fire extinguish, however, it contains PFAS also known as "forever chemicals.” Containment booms were set up to contain the fuel that ended up flowing across the parking lot.

However, diesel fuel entered the catch basins and flowed to the gravel wetland along Philbrook Avenue which was recently completed by the Long Creek Watershed Management District

The Maine Department of Environmental Protection investigated and the foam is not near any public water supplies they don't believe there is a threat to the public, but they advise pedestrians to avoid the immediate area while the contamination evaluation continues.