Black smoke plumes billowed hundreds of feet this morning northeast of Lawrence as a tanker truck carrying 1,700 gallons of diesel fuel and oil burned in the 1700 block of North 1800 Road, which is just east of the Kansas Highway 32 and U.S. Highway 24-40 intersection near the Douglas-Leavenworth County line.

A service truck burns Tuesday morning near the Leavenworth-Douglas County line.

Several explosions sent balls of flames 50 feet in the air, but for much of the first hour after the fire started, officials countered the inferno with a single hose.

“Basically right now we don’t have enough water,” said Maj. Ken McGovern of the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office.

The blazing truck, which rested 25-30 yards from a natural gas pipeline, ignited nearby ditches. Meanwhile, officials from the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, the Leavenworth County Sheriff’s Office, the Kansas Highway Patrol, Lawrence-Douglas County Fire and Medical and Wakarusa Township Fire and Rescue regulated the scene. Emergency crews made several three-mile trips to Lawrence for more water.

The driver, Richard Kramer, McLouth, pulled over shortly before 9 a.m., when smoke filled the cab of the year-old “lube truck,” a service vehicle he was driving for King’s Construction of Oskaloosa.

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Kramer was uninjured, but the $100,000 truck was a total loss, said Jennifer Best, the company’s office manager.

Best said the truck recently had passed Kansas Highway Patrol inspections.