MAY 1, 2015
PITKIN COUNTY, COLORADO
A fuel truck overturned on Capitol Creek Road and spilled
518 gallons of gasoline and 23 gallons of diesel fuel on Capitol Creek Road on
Thursday.
The Basalt Fire Department dammed water in a ditch and
pumped it across the road into a field to avoid the potential greater spread of
fuel.
A fuel tanker got into an accident and overturned shortly
before 1 p.m. Thursday.
The driver of the Roaring Fork Co-op truck refused treatment at the
scene, but was going to be taken to a hospital by his wife, Burchetta
said.
Trooper Steve Wall of the state patrol identified the driver as Bernard Nygaard, 65, of Rifle. He was cited for careless driving.
“He said he looked down at a map for a minute, went into the ditch, overcorrected, and that’s when he overturned,” Wall said.
Trooper Steve Wall of the state patrol identified the driver as Bernard Nygaard, 65, of Rifle. He was cited for careless driving.
“He said he looked down at a map for a minute, went into the ditch, overcorrected, and that’s when he overturned,” Wall said.
The fuel was removed onto another tanker and the
overturned vehicle was brought upright and towed away by 8 p.m.
When the accident occurred, Pitkin County deputy sheriff and
public information officer Alex Burchetta said the focus was on stopping the
fuel from leaking, transferring the fuel to a different tank and getting the truck
upright. The cause of the crash wasn’t immediately known. The driver of the
truck was unhurt, according to Burchetta. He was the only occupant.
The truck was carrying 1,500 gallons of diesel fuel and
1,100 gallons of gasoline prior to the accident, based on information the
driver gave to the Fire Department, Burchetta said. There are no commercial
fuel outlets on the rural road, but there are ranches beyond the point where
the truck crashed.
The first firefighters arrived on scene at about 1:15 p.m.
“We definitely noticed there was fuel leaking out of the
truck,” Burchetta said. The crew that contained the leak reported it was a
“steady stream” at first. By 2:15 p.m., the leak had slowed to a “few drips,”
he said.
Firefighters used rocks to dam the roadside ditch upstream
from the accident site, then they pumped water over to a field on the opposite
side of the ditch, Burchetta said.
The State Patrol established a 1,000-foot perimeter of no
occupancy around the site. No one had to be evacuated from the two homes within
that perimeter because no one was home at the time, Burchetta said. If they
arrived home, they wouldn’t be allowed to return to their residences until the
hazard was gone, he added.
The accident site was about 11/2 miles from where East
Sopris Creek Road/Capitol Creek Road comes to a T-intersection with Snowmass
Creek Road. The accident was between the point where Capitol Creek Road
branches off from East Sopris Creek Road and the Little Elk Creek subdivision.
Residents of the subdivision had to come and go via alternate access that ties
into East Sopris Creek Road.
The site is about 4 miles from the Old Snowmass
Conoco station.
Reporters weren’t allowed into the site because of the
possible risk posed by the fuel fumes. Burchetta said when he drove up to the
site he could smell the fumes from inside his vehicle about 200 yards from the
site. Basalt firefighters were working in full gear.
The private-sector firm Metropolitan was enlisted to help
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