Area 13 MVA November 27,2007
    
 

Chemical truck overturns

  • Weather dampens potential for explosion
     

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    A tanker truck hauling 20 tons of a dry chemical smashed into a rock wall on a Kanawha County road Tuesday morning,
    causing it to roll over and spill about half its load onto the roadway.
    About 10 tons of ammonium nitrate, a chemical frequently used to make explosives, spilled onto Cabin Creek Road.
    The accident happened at 8:15 a.m. on the two-lane road, about 1.5 miles from W.Va. 61.
    Ammonium nitrate alone is not hazardous, said Chuck Runyon of the state Department of Transportation’s emergency
    operations When mixed with diesel fuel, however, it becomes an explosive substance, he said.
    Between 300 and 400 gallons of diesel spilled after the truck crashed, Runyon said, but most of it washed into the creek
    and only a small amount mixed with the spilled chemical. “With the rain we had last night, it washed the diesel away from
    the ammonium nitrate ... so we didn’t have an explosive mixture,” he said.
    Crews spent most of the day cleaning the mess off the road, which reopened after 5 p.m.
    The driver of the truck, Donald D. O’Connor III, 34, of Ashford, was not injured.
    He was traveling south on the road when the right front tire went off the pavement edge, said Kanawha Sheriff’s Lt. Bryan Stover.
    The truck then tipped into the ditch, struck the rock wall and overturned onto the road, Stover said.
    O’Connor was cited for failure to maintain control.