Skip to Content, Navigation, or Footer.
We inform. You decide.
Friday, March 29, 2024
<p>A UF equipment truck caught fire after a flat tire sent up sparks Sunday morning while heading back to Gainesville after the Mississippi State University game.</p>

A UF equipment truck caught fire after a flat tire sent up sparks Sunday morning while heading back to Gainesville after the Mississippi State University game.

Julie A. Hill spotted her rival team’s equipment truck in the median of a tree-lined highway. 

The Alabama fan was on the way to drop a friend off at the airport at about 7:15 a.m. Sunday when she saw a Florida Gators truck pulled over on Interstate 20, east of the Cottondale, Alabama, exit. 

“The first thing we thought because we’re ’Bama fans was that it was funny because it was a broken down Florida truck,” Hill said. “But we did want to be sure everyone was okay.”

The back of a UF equipment truck caught fire after a flat tire sent up sparks, said Steve McClain, a UF senior associate athletics director. The fire scorched a hole in the truck and damaged football equipment as it traveled about nine hours back to Gainesville from the Mississippi State University game in Starkville, Mississippi.

There was minimal damage to the equipment inside the truck, McClain said.The equipment was transferred to another truck for the remainder of the drive back to Florida. The amount of the damages to the truck and equipment wasn’t immediately known because it will be evaluated today when it is expected to return to Gainesville.

The now-burnt blue and orange gear in the truck included helmets, pads and wristbands, among other items, said UF Football Assistant Director Will Pantages.

Pantages wrote in an email that no one was injured by the fire and the equipment staff will be “ready to go equipment-wise” for the next home game against Louisiana State University, which is set to kick off at 3:30 p.m. Saturday.

Hill, a professor at the University of Alabama School of Law, said no one was on the scene when she first drove by, but when she drove by later at 9:30 a.m. there were tow trucks moving the trailer in the median.

When she returned, she said the tow trucks were turning the trailer around back toward Tuscaloosa.

A UF equipment truck caught fire after a flat tire sent up sparks Sunday morning while heading back to Gainesville after the Mississippi State University game.

Enjoy what you're reading? Get content from The Alligator delivered to your inbox
Support your local paper
Donate Today
The Independent Florida Alligator has been independent of the university since 1971, your donation today could help #SaveStudentNewsrooms. Please consider giving today.

Powered by SNworks Solutions by The State News
All Content © 2024 The Independent Florida Alligator and Campus Communications, Inc.