A Brookhaven man headed to work in Vicksburg was killed this morning in a fiery collision in a major north-south artery of Warren County.

Warren County Coroner John Thomason said Joseph C. Smith, 44, 683 Alderman Lane, died immediately after the wreck reported at 6:12 a.m. on Mississippi 27 near Tilton Ranch Road in the Tingleville community.

He was the only person in a black Ford Crown Victoria headed north on the two-lane highway when his car collided head-on with a dump truck driven by Dale Lakes, 33, no address available. Lakes was the only person in the truck.

Mississippi Highway Patrol Sgt. Jake Coffie said Lakes was driving south when a tire blew out, causing the truck to veer into the northbound lane and hit Smith’s car.

“Both ended up in the ravine, and the dump truck caught on fire,” Coffie said. “The driver of the black Ford was penned in the car.”

Warren County Sheriff’s deputies, the first emergency workers on the scene, used hand-held fire extinguishers in an attempt to douse the blaze that could be seen more than a mile away.

Volunteer firefighters arrived shortly and extinguished the fire, Sheriff Martin Pace said.

Morning traffic on Mississippi 27, often used a cutoff between Interstates 20 and 55 and is used locally by vehicles headed to Warren Central High School, Beechwood Elementary School and Hinds Community College, was diverted for more than two hours.

Thomason said Smith died instantly and an autopsy would be performed.

Smith had worked at M-Co Inc., 2191 Culkin Road, for 14 years.

Chris Reeves, business manager for the company, said Smith had a good work ethic and strong faith.

“You can’t beat Joey Smith,” he said.

The wreck was the ninth fatal one in Warren County this year. Just three days earlier, on Saturday afternoon, Hazel Buchanan, 86, of Vicksburg, died when a car in which she was a passenger collided head-on with another vehicle on Wisconsin Avenue.