A gasoline tanker went up in flames early Saturday morning on a Long Island Expressway service road in Holbrook.

The incident happened just before 4:30 a.m. on the westbound LIE service road just west of Patchogue-Holbrook Road by exit 61.

"It was this giant explosion, this big boom, almost like something giant fell and hit the ground and then car alarms started going off," says Alicia Verity, of Holbrook.

The fire sparked road closures and four homes had to be evacuated.

Crews were able to put the fire out before the 2,800 gallons of fuel in the tanker could ignite, avoiding what could have potentially been a major disaster. The evacuation was lifted after the fire was extinguished.

The vehicle's driver was also able to escape before it went up in flames.

It took close to seven hours for the service road to reopen.