Close call at the RaceTrac station

The Banks County Fire Department quickly extinguished a spectacular blaze at the Banks Crossing RaceTrac gas station early Wednesday afternoon.

Fire Chief Gary Pollard said a man was cleaning out a set of fuel tanks at the gas station at about 1 p.m. when fuel being pumped from the storage tank into a tank in his truck apparently landed on the pump motor's exhaust, starting the fire. The truck was totally destroyed.

"We think some gas flew out out and landed on the engine on his pump," said Pollard. "He had a holding tank in the back of the truck and a pump. What we're thinking is that some kind of fuel popped out onto the exhaust, maybe, and caught fire."

Pollard said deputies of the Banks County Sheriff's office were first on the scene "and they did a great job evacuating and trying to secure the scene."

"We had units there pretty quick and had a real quick knockdown on it," Pollard added. "We did call Commerce for mutual aid because we had a house fire in the northern part of the county at the same time."

No one was injured. Damage to a nearby fuel pump was slight, Pollard said.