Gasoline tanker crashes on Bartow Hill

Bartow, W.Va. – About 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, a tanker truck full of gasoline left the roadway and flipped onto its right side in a field one-quarter mile south of the Route 250/Route 92 intersection in Bartow. The driver was uninjured in the crash, but gasoline was leaking from the tanker at a rate of approximately 15 gallons per hour.

The Bartow-Frank-Durbin VFD, Pocahontas County Sheriff’s Department and Emergency Management Services Shawn Dunbrack responded to the scene. A hazardous material response team was dispatched from Buckhannon to help contain the spill. B-F-D fire chief Buster Varner brought a large excavator to the scene to dig a diverision trench, if necessary, and a truck load of sawdust to absorb spilled gasoline. Varner said Wednesday afternoon that no gasoline had entered the watershed.

Varner said at 2:50 p.m. Wednesday that the HAZMAT response team had not arrived and neither had an empty tanker truck to empty the crashed tanker. The tanker truck was operated by Petroleum Transport Company, Inc., the same firm that operated a tanker that crashed near Minnehaha Springs in February 2009.

A single-lane detour was utilized immediately after the crash, but, starting about 11 a.m., Department of Highway personnel redirected traffic headed toward the crash site from all directions. Eastbound traffic on Route 250 was redirected onto Back Mountain Road. Northbound traffic on Route 92 was being redirected onto Route 66 toward Cass.

Varner estimated that the tanker would be emptied and towed away, and traffic returned to normal, about 8 p.m. tonight.