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A manned ice-resurfacing machine caught fire Wednesday evening while cleaning one of the rinks at Bill Gray’s Regional Iceplex near Monroe Community College in Brighton.
In the incident, videos of which have gone viral, flames ignited beneath the moving vehicle before quickly spreading to its entire back portion.
A hose carrying hydraulic fluid broke, and the leaking fluid was ignited by a hot exhaust pipe underneath the driver's seat, the ice arena explained in a statement, adding, "This was truly a fluke accident."
Shortly before the fire erupted, the machine could be seen leaving a trail of the red hydraulic fluid on the ice.
No one was hurt, said Lt. Ryan Fleming of the Rochester Fire Department. Not even the driver, Jordan Curtis — who, amazingly, was able to maneuver the fiery vehicle off the ice — or any onlookers, including a couple of people who were on the rink at the time.