Thomaston Volunteer Fire

Hazmat Response For A Gasoline Tanker Rollover Rt 8 North 09/12/11

Shortly before 5am on Monday morning Litchfield and Northfield Volunteers were dispatched for an MVA on Rt 8 North prior to Exit 41. They arrived to find a gasoline tanker carrying over 5000 gallons of 87 octane gasoline rolled over and down a steep embankment. Immediate calls went out for tankers, engines, and the regional foam trailors from Waterbury,Danbury, Torrington, and Winsed. On closer examination it was determined that the incident was actually in Thomaston near the Litchfield town line. With large amounts of fuel pouring into the soil from the damaged tanker the Connecticut Department of Enviromental Protection as well as a hazmat response contractor were also called to the scene. I persoannly responded with Thomaston EMS to assist in the coordination of the multiple ems units for standby and rehab which is the reason ost of theses pictures are from the cold zone. Crews foamed the wreck to help keep the fume levels down ahd worked to off load the remaining fuel in he tanker. Once the wreck was pulled up and removed from the scene the massive cleanup effort started. After removing multiple trees all the contaminated soil had to be removed and the the large amout of gasoline and contaminated water pumped out. The las two pictures of the set shows the huge amount of soil removed in 4 days . DEP officials estimate the cleanup will take up to a month and there will be monitoring of the ground water for years. The driver of the truck escaped with nonlifethreatening injuries.

Return to Homepage