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Fumes may have led to truck fire

By ALEX LEARY
Published March 11, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - The fire that engulfed a Bright House Networks truck and killed its driver may be linked to an accelerant left in bottles behind the seat, the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office said Thursday.

Fumes from the substance could have been ignited when driver Robert D. Knight lit a cigarette, detective Michael Bailey said. It was still unknown what the material was inside the plastic containers, which were melted in the intense fire.

Foul play is not suspected, Bailey said, adding an inspection of the truck's mechanical system did not reveal a problem.

Knight, 60, was driving on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Street, just south of Interstate 275, when flames engulfed the entire front of the company truck. Witnesses said Knight stopped the truck and leaped out, covered in flames. He rolled in the grass median to put out the fire but died at the scene.

He had been a driver for the company, formerly Time Warner Cable, since 1988. One of the Tampa man's two sons, James Knight, said he enjoyed fishing and animals and had undergone surgery for prostate cancer about a year ago. "This is a tragic accident," he said.

[Last modified March 11, 2005, 01:22:10]