Fire service called to car blaze on M6 outside Athlone

One unit from Athlone Fire Station was dispatched to the westbound lane of the M6 motorway on Sunday evening last, January 12, when a car which was travelling in the direction of Ballinasloe caught fire.

The male driver of the car took evasive action by pulling off the motorway at Clonark when he noticed smoke coming from his vehicle, and managed to exit the car before it was engulfed in flames.

The emergency services were alerted to the incident at approximately 7.52pm, and both Athlone Gardai and members of the local fire service attended the scene.

One unit from Athlone Fire Service spent over one and a half hours extinguishing the flames.

No injuries were reported and there was “no impact” on traffic using the M6 motorway at the time of the incident, according to a spokesperson from Athlone Garda Station.

The fire service unit which was dispatched to the scene of the car fire on the M6 motorway had earlier attended an incident in the Battery Heights area of Athlone where a mound of rubbish was on fire.

A spokesperson for Athlone Fire Service said the crew had spent over half an hour extinguishing the fire in Battery Heights before they were dispatched to the car fire on the M6 motorway.