INCLINE VILLAGE - A truck driver is presumed dead Friday after his out-of-control tractor-trailer rig jumped a runaway truck ramp, crashed into a house and burst into flames that engulfed the home.
The crash occurred around 8:15 a.m. near the intersection of highways 431 and 28 in Incline Village. A 19-year-old woman inside the two-story house on Woodbridge Drive escaped unharmed.
Fire crews controlled the fire around 8:25 a.m., and had it fully contained by about 9:15 a.m.
North Lake Tahoe Fire Protection District Assistant Chief Greg McKay said emergency crews were delayed in reaching the driver while the house was checked for structural stability.
Next-door neighbor Bruce Okuda said he heard a loud crash that sounded as if the truck had hit his own home.
"It was just a big bang kind of an explosion," Okuda said.
Okuda said someone who witnessed the crash told him the truck was hauling lumber and appeared to be traveling more than 100 mph before it went airborne.