All northbound and southbound lanes of Beltway 8 East near Spencer Highway were blocked into the night while crews extinguished the fire and cleaned up the mess. The lanes finally reopened at 1am.
Authorities tell us it started just after 4:30pm when the tanker got a flat tire and was driving too close to the wall. Sparks from the flat caused the fire, officials said.
The tanker was said to be carrying about 700 gallons of fuel.
Officials say it took a while to clean the mess and had to wait on a second tanker truck to pick up what was left of the load so they could then scrape the roads.
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