An Arlington firefighter looks over the wreckage of a maintenance truck that hit a tree and exploded Monday afternoon.
The truck's driver, who was not identified, suffered minor injuries.
Fred Guzman didn't know that what he witnessed Monday afternoon would turn out to be a fatal accident -- a maintenance truck engulfed in flames, the driver desperately trying to put out the fire with a garden hose found nearby.
Guzman said he glanced in the rearview mirror while driving to work when he saw the truck swerve across three lanes and slam into a pecan tree next to a house at Biggs Terrace and South Collins Street.
Guzman said he pulled over and ran back to where the driver had gotten out shortly before an explosion sent flames through the interior of the truck. Together, they grabbed a hose from the front yard of the house and tried to put out the flames.
"I realized there was another person in the truck," Guzman said. "But every time we put water on the fire it just got bigger. There was nothing we could do. The driver kept trying to go in, but it was too hot."
The passenger, whose name was not released, died in the accident. Police said the driver, a 42-year-old Arlington man, lost control of the vehicle. The fire spread to the pecan tree and the house of Marjorie Laney, causing extensive exterior damage.
Police are still investigating but do not believe that alcohol or speed were factors in the crash, which happened at 3:35 p.m.
The explosion under the truck could be heard several blocks away; it littered front yards on Biggs Terrace with debris.
The driver, whom police aren't identifying, suffered minor injuries and was taken to a local hospital.
He declined to comment at the scene.
Employees of Solutions Underground Technology, a small communications company based in Haslet, showed up an hour after the accident, worried about their friend, the driver.
One of the employees, Fernando Blanco, said the driver was on his way home from a job. He said the passenger didn't work for the company.
"He was just a longtime friend, and they hadn't seen each other for a while," Blanco said. "They were just hanging out. I guess the driver was giving him a ride. I can't believe this happened."
Police shut down a large portion of Collins Street while fire investigators inspected the wreckage. Small crowds gathered in the streets.
Laney was away from home when the wreck occurred. After a neighbor called her, she hurried home to find the side wall charred and half her pecan tree gone.
"I'm glad that pecan tree's so big," she said. "That truck would have torn through my house. I'm sorry for the driver, though."
Distributed by the Associated Press
