Ohio I-271 Reopens After Tanker Truck, Fire Truck Collide

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May 21, 2010
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http://www.fox8.com/news/wjw-news-accident-271-tanker-hazmat,0,6909125.story

Fox 8 said:
OAKWOOD VILLAGE, Ohio -- Traffic was tied-up for more than five hours on Monday afternoon after a chain reaction crash on Interstate 271 forced the highway to be closed to vehicles.

The fire chief says the first minor accident happened after 12 o'clock, which resulted in a second minor crash involving a distracted driver. The third crash happened when the driver of an oncoming tanker truck couldn't stop in time following the second crash, which resulted in the tanker careening into a fire truck that was parked at the scene. Two fire fighters narrowly escaped serious injuries.


"One was behind it, one was in front of it," said Chief Jim Schade. "They heard the, you know, you never forget the sound of rubber on the road when the tires aren't turning and with the fishtailing and sliding, they jumped over the concrete wall over there to get behind it."


Less than 200 gallons of fuel leaked from the tanker, but the Ohio EPA said the spill was cleaned-up. Bart Ray said emergency valves on the tanker prevented an environmental nightmare since the tanker was hauling more than 8,000 gallons of gasoline. "There are safety valves built in those tankers in case they are in an accident, that those valves are closed," said Ray.


It was a bad situation for drivers, but it could have been much worse if more fuel leaked or exploded. The fire chief said it would have seriously damaged the Alexander Road bridge and could have impacted people living nearby.


The damaged fire truck is one of the newer trucks in the department and now needs to be repaired. "This truck is set-up for car accidents, unfortunately it's not set-up to be the buffer for our car accidents," said Chief Schade.


There were no serious injuries and the highway re-opened by seven o'clock on Monday night.
 
We had three ambulance crews stuck in this crap for 3 hours. We ended turning the "highway" feature off in our gps's and took back roads to south point hosp in warrensville hts.
 

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