An early morning fire at the Pilot Travel Center located on Highway 48 and Interstate 95 in Gaston consumed a tractor-trailer from Maine Saturday.

Gaston Chief Ed Porter Jr. said in a news release at 2:33 a.m., emergency crews arrived to find an 18-wheeler fully engulfed in flames.

The truck was traveling to Florida and was carrying 60,000 pounds of assorted candy. During the time of the fire, the driver was sleeping in his cab and was awakened to the sight of flames.

The driver escaped the rig uninjured and quickly alerted drivers stationed next to his truck.

Fire crews from Gaston Fire and Rescue and the Garysburg Fire Department quickly extinguished the blaze from the cab, only to find that the contents of the trailer were also on fire.

Emergency crews remained on scene approximately five hours.