Driver dies in fiery crash in rural Sterling early Saturday

STERLING – A driver is dead after his vehicle crashed into a tree and caught fire on state Route 40/Pennington Road just north of Fulfs Road, Whiteside County Sheriff John Booker said in a news release.

When deputies arrived on the scene at 5:20 a.m. Saturday, near Oak Knoll cemetery in rural Sterling, they found the vehicle engulfed and the male driver dead, he said.

No one else was in the vehicle, which had been heading north, Booker said.

The driver’s name was being withheld pending notification of next of kin.

The investigation is ongoing; more information will be released Monday, Booker said.