The plow, a 1974 Chevrolet C-60 4×4 plow, was being operated by Dean Woltman, the city’s public works superintendent.

“I was just past the fire station, heading for the fuel pumps at the co-op,” he said. “It stuttered and died and then I heard a big boom underneath the hood.”

Woltman said he saw the flames and jumped out of the truck, grabbing a fire extinguisher in the process.

He tried putting out the fire himself, but he wasn’t able to.

Woltman called Assistant Fire Chief Dave Anderson, who then called 911 to report the fire.

The Manson Fire Department arrived on scene and extinguished the blaze, but by then it was too late to save the truck.

“It is destroyed,” Woltman said.

Manson Mayor Dave George said the truck was an old one that was no longer being used by the city.

“It was an old plow truck that had been out of commission for several years,” George said. “Our city crew decided to get it operating just to clean snow faster because of heavy snowfall that we had.”

It’s unclear exactly what caused the fire.

Because the plow was used as a backup, the mayor said the city’s snow removal operations will not be hampered by the loss of the plow. The city currently has an end-loader and a maintainer to help remove snow.

“So our only plan is to upgrade the trucks that we do have,” he said. “We’re not going to replace the third one.”

Nobody was hurt in the fire.

“Everyone was fine,” George said.