Oil Truck Fire Following Crash – Fast Acting Resident Avoids Environmental Disaster
Photo source: Pixabay.com
A fast acting resident managed to divert disaster following a truck crash recently.
An environmental disaster could have taken place with engine oil spewing into the Yass River had it not been for a resident with earthmoving equipment.
A truck fire on the Federal Highway near Sutton sent oil spewing out onto nearby grass and the burning oil ran down into the river.
The accident is said to have been caused by a mechanical fault with the vehicle’s trailer which caused a heat build-up starting a fire in the trailer.
The 49 year old driver, with his son at the time, turned back the truck south on the highway and pulled over into a highway lay-by southbound, near the bridge over the Yass River Valley near the ACT Border.
The driver tried to put out the fire with 2 fire extinguishers but was unsuccessful and a nearby resident who had heard the boom of the truck explosion quickly took his grader and used it to push berms of material up to prevent the fire from spreading and the oil from going into the river. Source: https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/driver-escapes-injury-after-oil-truck-fire-on-federal-highway-20190131-p50up9.html