UPDATE: Semi driver OK after roadside blaze

A semi-trailer driver escaped his burning vehicle this morning, just moments before flames engulfed the cab during a roadside blaze south of Cannon Falls.

Abdi Abokor, Minneapolis, said he began to smell smoke in the cab as he headed south on Highway 52 just south of Skunk Hollow Trail. Abokor pulled the semi to the shoulder, then jumped out and sprayed the growing fire with a fire extinguisher.

“It was not enough for it,” he said of fire, which began at 11:11 a.m.

Cannon Falls firefighters later extinguished the blaze, which destroyed the vehicle. Abokor said he was hauling plastics for Midwest Carrier en route to Winona, Minn.

The fire temporarily closed the highway, which was later reopened to one lane during cleanup.

See Wednesday’s print edition for more on the story.

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