Scene of traffic backed up today on the Main Hill Road as a truck belonging to longtime Los Alamos resident Tom Rush caught on fire. Rush and his wife were uninjured but the fire totaled their truck. Courtesy photo

By CAROL A. CLARK
Los Alamos Daily Post
caclark@ladailypost.com

Following a number of mixed up reports today, longtime Los Alamos resident Tom Rush called the Los Alamos Daily Post this evening to share details of the harrowing experience he and his wife had around noon today when his truck caught fire.

Rush explained that he and his wife were returning from a trip to Española in their 2001 Chevy S10, 4-cylinder pickup, which had 57,000 miles on it.

“We were on the last stretch of the Main Hill when we noticed smoke coming from the truck,” Rush said. “I pulled over as fast as I could just west of the Co-op Market and we bailed out.”

Rush said he and his wife left their truck so quickly that he left his keys, which contained their house keys in the ignition and his garage door opener inside the truck as well.

“A nice firefighter arrived and I told him what happened and he retrieved our property from inside the truck for us,” Rush said. “All the firefighters did a really good job.”

His truck had 57,000 miles on it and the fire has totaled it, he said.

Rush has lived in Los Alamos for 40 years and said while the fire totaled their truck, he and his wife are grateful they weren’t injured. He also kept his sense of humor.

“We stopped traffic in town for a while … with our truck on fire everyone was balled up,” Rush said. “My wife and I are talking about whether it’s going to take one or two martinis for us to sleep tonight,” he said laughing.