West Knox firefighters battle truck fire at former King’s Truck Stop

West Knox firefighters were called to the former King’s Truck Stop Thursday morning in response to a report of a tractor-trailer truck on fire.

Firefighters were called to the scene on U.S. 25E just off of Interstate 75 about 11:30 a.m.

The fire was located in the sleeper compartment of the truck belonging to ELA Connect, LLC out of Stone Mountain, Georgia.

The driver was not injured.

The driver told West Knox Fire Chief Darryl Baker that he had been parked in the lot overnight and had just started the truck to warm up the engine.

The driver then walked across the road to the Pilot Truck Stop to get breakfast.

“When I opened the door, it was just a mass of flames,” the driver told Baker adding that he had been gone approximately 10 minutes.

The driver added that he didn’t smoke and didn’t have any type of space heater operating at the time.

Firefighters had the blaze under control within a few minutes.

Baker said there is damage to some of the electrical wiring in the truck.