The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.
No idea what happened here haven't had a chance to ask a spotter. Meant to take better pictures but was in a hurry. Looks like it caught fire?