MOUNT VERNON — A trip to Wal-Mart Tuesday evening turned out to be a lot more exciting for Ronald Ridenour of Apple Valley than he anticipated.
Ridenour was making a routine shopping trip to Wal-Mart, and was leaving the store when he noticed smoke coming from the area where he had parked his truck.
“I walked out of the store and was walking out in the parking lot and saw smoke coming out of my truck,” Ridenour said. “I got closer and saw a lot of smoke coming from the truck. At this point, I’m not sure what started it.”
He got in the truck and removed some items, then called 9-1-1.
“By the time I got my stuff out, the truck was ablaze,” Ridenour said. “I made the call to 9-1-1 at 6:33. I’m not sure how long it took for the fire department to get there. It’s one of those things where it seems like it took forever.”
First on the scene, the Mount Vernon Fire Department squad tried unsuccessfully to put out the fire with extinguishers. An engine arrived moments later and put out the blaze. Ridenour’s truck, however, was a total loss.
“The fire started under the hood,” Ridenour said, “then it moved to the cab. The truck is a total loss. I imagine the insurance company will want to do an investigation. I’m just glad no one was hurt.”
The fire was hot enough to leave a big black mark on the Wal-Mart parking lot.
The truck was a 2000 Chevy S-10 and was Ridenour’s personal vehicle.
