Twenty-thousand pounds of cheese is gone after a semi catches fire Tuesday.



Police say that a semi’s brakes caught fire while the driver was on the highway. The driver pulled off into a store parking lot to try to put it out himself, but the fire department had to take over.

“It’s a very difficult fire once the cheese gets going. We also had a diesel fuel tank on the refrigerated trailer rupture so the combination of cheese and diesel fuel made for a pretty hot fire,” Assistant Chief Kurt Zellman of the West Allis Fire Department said.

Firefighters say the driver was okay. He disconnected his cab from the trailer, so he was able to drive off.

“The truck was packed with Kraft and Velveeta cheese and with some of it still in its bag, people wondered if they could bring it home,” Rebecca Klopf said.

Witness Amber Matthews says, “I’m a little upset I didn’t get here earlier. I think I might want to rummage through it. We’ll be eating good tonight if I can get some cheese.”

A clean up crew was called in and threw everything out, much to the disappointment of the people watching.

“This really breaks my heart to see the cheese all melted up,” Jim Wendt says after seeing the fire.



“I think it gives a whole new meaning to grilled cheese,” Robin Laursen said.

The semi carrying the cheese was believed to have been heading out of state.