NORWICH – A tractor trailer carrying dozens of pallets of wood pellets caught fire as it drove down State Highway 12 Monday morning, when a bearing in a rear tire overheated and burst into flames.

The rig’s driver, Calyle Beckhorn, said he was on his way to Clinton to deliver the pellets to an area Agway when he heard a loud “boom.”

The incident occurred at about 8:06 a.m., a quarter mile north the Halfway House bridge. It interrupted both lanes of traffic for about 45 minutes.

“At first I thought I blew a tire, but when I looked into my mirror I saw smoke coming up,” Beckhorn said.

Beckhorn stopped the 18-wheeler immediately and retrieved his emergency fire extinguisher from the truck’s cabin. He sprayed the area the smoke seemed to be coming from and quelled some flames, but as the extinguisher ran dry, the truck continued to smolder.