Crews continue to clean up hazardous materials from crash
One-lane restrictions will remain in effect today on Interstate 70 East by the West Virginia border as clean-up crews work to remove containers of hazardous materials that may have broken open when a double tractor-trailer crashed over the hillside Wednesday afternoon.
Ryan Frazee, Washington County emergency planner, said the right eastbound lane will remain closed for at least one day, and the state Department of Transportation announced that daylight restrictions could last for three to five days.
Frazee said the tractor-trailer was hauling fertilizers and other materials used for spraying truck bed liners and strengthening plastics, but it was unknown how many containers broke open.
Frazee said the accident also caused a leak of about 50 to 60 gallons of diesel fuel, and the soil will be remediated by crews working alongside the state Department of Environmental Protection. He said a stream is located downhill about 200 to 300 yards from the accident site.
DEP spokesman John Poister said ammonium nitrate, the fertilizer compound that the tractor-trailer was hauling, could be explosive under certain circumstances.
“They were very lucky (Wednesday) that they didn’t have a bigger problem,” he said.
He said the diesel fuel leak was contained quickly, and he was waiting on a report detailing the extent of the hazardous materials spill.
Police identified the driver of the tractor-trailer as John Kincaid, 54, of Blanchester, Ohio. Police said Kincaid was driving east when his rig hauling two trailers went off the highway and hit a guardrail. The second trailer went over the embankment, pulling with it the tractor and first trailer.
Kincaid was flown to UPMC-Presbyterian hospital to be treated for moderate injuries.