Two tractor trailers parked in a rented space behind the Sunset Diner in Green Brook inexplicably caught fire early Tuesday morning.
GREEN BROOK -- A New York man considered himself lucky that he wasn't in his tractor trailer early Tuesday when it caught fire in a parking lot behind the Sunset Diner.
"Thank God I wasn't in the truck," said Joel Abrau, the driver of one the trucks as he looked over the burn-out shells Tuesday morning behind the popular diner. "I was just telling my wife that this could've happened while I was on the road or while I was sleeping in the truck.
"I feel so lucky. This truck is my home. I have a bed in there. I have a refrigerator in there, a mircowave. I live in that truck."
The truck reportedly caught fire around 4 a.m., Abrau said. The blaze spread to a second truck. Somerset County Hazmat personnel were still on the scene as of 9 a.m. Police have yet to release any official information on what happened.
Abrau, who travels from New Jersey to Pennsylvania, Virginia and other surrounding states delivering freight, said he was on the way to work from Manhattan around 6:30 this morning to pick up his truck in the rented parking lot when he was informed of the fire.
Plainfield-based North South Transport Corp owns the trucks. Abrau is a driver for Unlimited Transport, which has an office in North Bergen, according to the company's website.
"I don't understand what happened. The truck was off. I parked it on Friday around noon and went home," Abrau said. "I'm the only one who drives the truck.
"Surveillance cameras showed that a flash went off and then a fire started. It could've been something in the motor. But we just replaced the batteries two weeks ago. I don't understand what happened."
Abrau said he was scheduled to work on Monday but took the day off because he wasn't feeling well.
"Suppose I had come to work on Monday," he said, shaking his head. "There's no telling where I would've been. I just thank God."
Dave Hutchinson may be reached at dhutchinson@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @DHutch_SL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.