From Discovery News:
A truck carrying a trailer with 27 tons of goat cheese through Norway caught fire in a tunnel recently. But this was no ordinary cheese: The resulting tunnel fire raged for days.
Last Thursday, a truck driver heading through the Brattli tunnel to Kjøpsvik in Norway noticed his trailer was alight and got out, leaving the truck inside the tunnel, according to a report in the Norwegian newspaper Fremover. He was carrying a brown-colored caramelized goat cheese called Brunost that’s considered to be a delicacy.
The special brown cheese turned out to be a powerful accelerant that caused foam inside the tunnel to ignite. The local fire department battled the tunnel fire for nearly five days. Their efforts were slowed by toxic gases and now the tunnel is expected to be closed for several weeks for repair.
Viggo Berg, a police officer on the scene, compared the cheese to gasoline, noting that it has a high concentration of sugar and fat. At the right temperature, it burns extremely well, the BBC reported. This is the first time anyone can remember cheese catching fire like this in the country — maybe this will herald hazardous material warnings for cheese trucks?
Fortunately no one was hurt in the fire. Sadly, though, all that melted cheese is beyond human consumption now.
