Car lodged under tanker truck in Pease crash
Traffic snarled during morning drive
A crash involving a tanker truck and a car drew an emergency response to Corporate Drive at Pease International Tradeport in Portsmouth on Monday morning. (Photo by Elizabeth Dinan)By Elizabeth Dinan
edinan@seacoastonline.com
Posted Aug. 31, 2015 at 9:27 AM
Updated Aug 31, 2015 at 1:59 PM
PORTSMOUTH, NH
A driver who lodged a Toyota under a tanker truck, which was filled with hazardous chemicals, walked away from the crash unscathed, said Deputy Fire Chief James Heinz.
The crash occurred Monday at 8:27 a.m. at the intersection of Corporate and Grafton drives in the Pease International Tradeport. Heinz said the truck driver was making a wide right turn off Grafton Drive when the Toyota driver went under its tanker. The Toyota driver self-extricated and declined medical treatment at the scene, Heinz said.
State police were called to inspect the truck, said Portsmouth police Lt. Darrin Sargent. While the trooper was responding from New Durham, traffic was snarled around the crash in all directions during the morning commute.
Heinz said the truck was hauling sodium hypochlorite which is "caustic chlorine on steroids." He said the substance is used to treat wells at a two percent strength and is used as laundry bleach at 3 to 6 percent strength. The chemical in the truck at the time of the crash was a 12 to 16 percent solution and is used to treat wastewater and sewage, Heinz said.
The truck tank was not breached and the chemical remained contained, Heinz said. Had it leaked onto the Toyota lodged beneath it, Heinz said, the driver would have suffered serious injuries.