Why Rte. 140 in Winchendon was closed on Wednesday - What made the incident unique

A crash on Rte. 140 in Winchendon Wednesday morning involving a natural gas-powered vehicle required the road to be closed for several hours as multiple agencies responded to the incident.

The town's dispatch center received a 911 call reporting a multi-car accident in the area of 560 Spring St. at 5:17 a.m., according to the Winchendon Fire Department. Upon arrival, crews discovered the accident involved an SUV and a CNG (Compressed Natural Gas) powered Amazon delivery truck.

The driver of the truck and a passenger were uninjured, but the driver of the SUV was transported to Heywood Hospital in Gardner with minor injuries.

Emergency officials observed that the delivery truck's CNG tank had become detached as a result of the collision and was resting next to the vehicle in the road. The tank's pressure lines were still attached, officials said.

"CNG vehicles are becoming more popular across the state more commonly on larger commercial vehicles," said Winchendon Fire Chief Tom Smith. "We were told this was the first time throughout the state that the tank had become dislodged as it did."

Why a crash involving a CNG vehicle requires additional care

After contacting the District 6 HazMat Team through Fitchburg Mid-State Control, fire crews set up a perimeter and Winchendon police and Department of Public Works crews established a detour around the accident scene.

"Once initial crews did their scene size up and realized the CNG fuel tank had been dislodged from the truck they knew that it was going to become an extended HazMat incident," Smith said. "State HazMat crews were then contacted. This decision very possibly saved firefighters and civilians from injury or worse."

Multiple state agencies responded to crash

As multiple emergency agencies and a natural gas technical expert responded to the scene, the Massachusetts State Police and the Department of Fire Services deployed their drones to monitor the scene prior to the technician's arrival. The MSP also utilized their robot to inspect the accident.

"The robot and drone were used to obtain photos of the tank and truck looking for damage and to plan for how we would mitigate the situation," Smith said. "These tools are used for this type of incident to avoid unnecessary risk of human lives."

Upon arrival, the technician determined that the pressure lines could be methodically removed, which allowed the tank to be loaded onto a trailer and brought to a safe location where HazMat crews able to safely remove the gas from the CNG tank.

The vehicles were then towed from the scene by Brooks Auto Service out of Winchendon and CO&S Garage out of Templeton, according to the report. The road was reopened to traffic at 3:50 p.m.

This article originally appeared on Gardner News: Why Rte. 140 in Winchendon was closed on Wednesday - What made the incident unique