According to Boston.com, a truck hauling a wood-fired pizza oven, flames visibly glowing inside, rolled through one of Boston's highway tunnels in September, and somebody caught the whole thing on video. The clip has since stirred up plenty of questions about why anyone would drive a lit, 900-degree oven through rush-hour tunnel traffic in the first place.
The rig belongs to Fired Up, a wood-fired pizza catering outfit that has been in business for about five years, according to owner Jim Walsh. As reported by Boston.com, the company tows its oven to weddings, graduation parties, and other events across southeastern New England. It was a Reddit user going by SageSquid6 who spotted the rig in September and shared the video online, and Walsh said the attention that followed came as a bit of a surprise.
Why the Oven Stays Cool Outside But Scorching Inside
Fired Up's oven is built from a special concrete that lets it cook pizzas, steaks, and vegetables at temperatures above 900 degrees Fahrenheit while the exterior stays cool to the touch, as noted by Boston.com. That combination is part of what makes it possible — if not exactly advisable — to tow the thing already burning. Walsh told the outlet that heating the oven to pizza-ready temperature takes about two hours, which is why he often lights it before hitting the road for a gig.
What he does not usually do, he said, is drive it through a tunnel while it is still lit. “I do light the oven and then drive to events pretty often but I don't usually go in the tunnel like in the video!” Walsh said, acknowledging the September trip was out of the ordinary for his usual routine.
Walsh Weighs In on the Backlash
Once the video started making the rounds, Fired Up received a wave of messages, Walsh said, some of them pointed criticism about the choice to drive a lit oven through an enclosed tunnel. He did not push back on that criticism. “Some have been critical of driving in the tunnel which I think is a fair point,” Walsh said, per the same account. He also noted, per a report from Boston.com, he keeps a fire extinguisher in his vehicle as a precaution.
Walsh was clear that he would never actually cook a pizza mid-drive, pointing to how fast the oven works at full heat. “I wouldn't cook a pizza while driving because they cook in about 4 minutes because of the high temperature of the oven,” he said, adding that Neapolitan-style pizza cooks at roughly 800 degrees. The margin for error, in other words, is not something he is interested in testing on the highway.
One Thing He Has Cooked on the Road
There is at least one exception to Walsh's no-cooking-while-driving rule, though it involves a much slower process. He said he has popped a brisket into the oven after it had cooled down following a catering gig and let it slow-cook during the drive home. That particular meal, he said, was strictly personal — not something served to customers.
