Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, March 11, 1992                   TAG: 9203110117
SECTION: CURRENT                    PAGE: NRV-2   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: New River Valley bureau
DATELINE: DUBLIN                                LENGTH: Short

DRIVER EXTINGUISHES GARBAGE-TRUCK FIRE

Collins, 47, proved that Monday morning when he was delivering a load of Dublin garbage to the landfill and a leaky hydraulic line dripped on a hot exhaust pipe, starting the blaze.

Three others at the landfill scattered, fearing an explosion. Collins, who has driven a garbage truck for the town nearly 18 years, calmly pulled a fire-extinguisher from the cab and set about stopping the fire.

He had to crawl underneath the truck to direct the spray on the fire. No sooner would he put it out in one section than it would break out in another, but he finally killed it altogether.

He estimates that it took between five and eight minutes, and admits he was frightened even while he was handling the situation.

"If I'd have run out of fire extinguisher, I was going to throw it down and run," he said.