Tanker truck trailer rollover spills 4,000 gallons of diesel

by

A tanker truck hauling two trailers of diesel had its pup trailer rollover on Sunday, April 26, on State Route 278 just north of Garden Pass. Eureka, Diamond Valley and Pine Valley fire departments all responded. Approximately 4,000 gallons of fuel spilled onto the roadway and shoulder. 

“The day of, traffic was stopped while they were trying to get everything mitigated, while they tried to get the pup trailer moved,” Eureka County Sheriff Miles Umina said. “DOT did go out there with a whole bunch of absorbent…it takes a while.”

A tanker truck pup trailer rolled over on State Route 278 just north of Garden Pass on Sunday, April 28, spilling 4,000 gallons of diesel onto the roadway and shoulder. Cleanup crews will be on-site for the next two weeks to mitigate the environmental impact.
Submitted photo
A tanker truck pup trailer rolled over on State Route 278 just north of Garden Pass on Sunday, April 28, spilling 4,000 gallons of diesel onto the roadway and shoulder. Cleanup crews will be on-site for the next two weeks to mitigate the environmental impact.

Head firefighter Scott Raine of Eureka Volunteer Fire Department was on scene and said there was a tear in the pup trailer more than a foot across. The first item of business was to get the 10,000 gallons of unspilled fuel detached from the pup trailer and removed from the area in case the spilled fuel was to catch fire. 

“We bring absorbent…it’s oil sorb. It’s largely, mostly a clay absorbent. You have to put that down before you let traffic through,” Raine said. “We have a hazardous materials trailer…that you can either use to absorb the oils, or most of the stuff in there is stuff you can use to block it from getting into drains.”

Raine said dealing with diesel is a bit more forgiving, since it’s heavier, so less of it tends to be transported via truck and trailer, and it’s also less combustible. Diesel fuel will “eat the oils out of the asphalt,” however. “They’re talking about doing a chipseal job on that whole chunk of highway, and that’s 200 yards away from where they planned to start,” Raine informed.

While the rear tanker was the only unit to roll and the driver was reported unharmed, cleanup crews will be on-site for the next two weeks to mitigate the environmental impact. 

“The Nevada Department of Transportation comes out and they remove all that soil and take it to the dump…when we left that equipment hadn’t showed up,” Raine said. “They come out with a street sweeper and put another layer of absorbent down.”

The Eureka County Sheriff’s Office is asking residents to use extreme caution when passing crews in the spill zone.