A 30-year-old Iowa truck driver was killed in a one-vehicle accident on Highway 35 near Genoa on Thursday, Sept. 1, according to the Vernon County Sheriff’s Department.

Derek Lee Sims was driving a tractor-trailer loaded with lumber northbound on 35 in the Town of Genoa about three miles south of the Village of Genoa at 8:26 a.m., when the truck veered to the right, left the roadway, struck a driveway and overturned.

The truck caught fire, but was quickly extinguished by the responding Genoa-Harmony Fire Department, Vernon County Sheriff John Spears reported.

Sims, a resident of Donnelson, Iowa, was pronounced dead at the scene by the Vernon County Coroner’s Office. It was Vernon County’s eight traffic fatality of the year and the third in five days.

Vernon County Coroner Janet Reed ordered an autopsy. There were no passengers and no other vehicles were involved in the accident.

The Wisconsin State Patrol, Genoa-Harmony Fire Department and Tri-State Ambulance assisted the Vernon County Sheriff’s Department at the scene.

The accident remains under investigation by the Vernon County Sheriff’s Department and Vernon County Coroner.