The Richer Fire Department has responded to two separate incidents along Highway 1 in the past 24 hours.

Monday evening around 7:00 PM, Fire Chief Chris Wilkins says his crews were dispatched to a vehicle that had spontaneously ignited just east of their community.

“The guy was driving along and smelled some smoke, lifted his hood and things started burning,” explains the chief. “Our best guess is that it was electrical but that is not confirmed.”

As a precaution, Wilkins says the highway was completely shut down for a time but firefighters made pretty quick work of the fire. Once it was extinguished, the road was reopened and the damaged vehicle was towed.

Then, at 5 AM this morning, Wilkins says his crews were called to a location only a few kilometres west, near the intersection of Highway 1 and Provincial Road 302.

“A vehicle had rolled,” he describes. “We don’t know how or what caused it, but by the time we got there, the guy had already got himself out of the vehicle and into the ambulance.”

Steinbach RCMP Confirm that the 22-year old male driver from Whitemouth did sustain some injuries to his shoulder and was transported to hospital.

Wilkins says this vehicle was also towed from the site of the crash.