---
title: "Garbage truck explodes"
description: "CBRNe World provides those tasked with defending against CBRN and IED threats with the essential practical, scientific and political information. Access the current and previous issues of the magazine by registering as a member."
url: "https://cbrneworld.com/threats-news/americas/garbage-truck-explodes"
date: "2026-07-30T21:06:57+00:00"
language: "en-GB"
---

#  Garbage truck explodes

 Written on 04 December 2024.

Police in Illinois have released new footage of the garbage truck that exploded in a Chicago suburb last Friday and left three first responders injured. The footage, which includes clips from a police officer’s bodycam, shows smoke coming out of the truck seconds before it explodes. Another clip, recorded by a squad car dash-mounted camera, shows debris falling onto the roofs of houses and the ground. The explosion took place last Friday around 4 p.m. as authorities were responding to reports of a truck fire in Arlington Heights, about 25 miles northwest of downtown Chicago Arlington Heights Police Department had said in a news release.

As authorities were assessing the scene, a portion of the truck exploded, resulting in the officers being injured due to "flying debris and post blast concussion." They had been transported to a local hospital with non-life-threatening injuries. Other first responders present in the area immediately responded to the situation, while "Arlington Heights Fire Dept. personnel aggressively attacked and contained the fire," police had said. The truck, powered by compressed natural gas, was operated by Groot Waste Management, police said, adding the company sent clean-up crew and equipment to the scene, who "removed residual content" from residential properties in the area and the roads. It was not immediately clear why the truck caught fire and exploded, and Groot Waste Management did not immediately respond to USA TODAY's request for an update on the incident.

There has since been some speculation that the cooling effect of a firefighter’s hose line stream directed to the top of a Groot garbage truck that was on fire may have defeated a heat-activated safety device designed to vent natural gas to prevent catastrophic explosion of a cylinder in the event of heat or fire exposure.

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