Florida Highway Patrol troopers worked on Monday morning to recover cows that escaped after a cattle hauler caught fire and the driver released them onto the Florida Turnpike.
According to FHP, the incident took place around mile marker 226 on the turnpike on Monday, July 18, at approximately 11:38 a.m. Police say that a 47-year-old man from Samson, Alabama was driving a cattle hauler carrying approximately 70 cows.
The driver says that when the semi-cab began to catch fire, he pulled over to the outside shoulder and exited the vehicle. He opened the cattle trailer door to allow the cows to escape due to the smoke and the flames, according to the report.
The fire was extinguished by emergency personnel and the driver was uninjured. After the hauler was towed from the scene, multiple crews began searching for cows that left the roadway.
After a few hours of collecting cows, northbound traffic and southbound traffic resumed at around 3:45 p.m.