Evacuation orders issued because of 32,100 pounds of hazardous materials in a truck fire

FREMONT – Evacuation and shelter-in-place orders were issued for Rice Township residents and businesses after a Volvo semi-tractor-trailer hauling hazardous materials burst into flames on the Ohio Turnpike Monday at approximately 4 p.m.

The truck was hauling 32,100 pounds of organic peroxide, a highly flammable hazardous material.

Sandusky Township Fire Chief Dean Schneider was the incident commander.

“When I left work, I could see the black smoke, so that thing was rocking and rolling,” Schneider said. “There were some unknowns, and I’d rather err on the side of caution.”

The requests to evacuate first went out via text and phone by the Sandsusky County Sheriff’s Office dispatch system, and it was followed by Firefighters walking door-to-door with evacuation orders and later shelter-in-place orders. It was lifted around 6:15 p.m.

"To my knowledge, yes, people were evacuated within a half-mile radius," Emergency Management Agency Director Lisa Kuelling said. “The initial danger is that organic peroxide, when combined with a heat source, spark, flame, anything like that, can explode. It’s explosive, but then when it’s burning, and it’s going in the air, it’s off-casting a toxic fume.”

Kuelling also gave her opinion on the level of danger associated with the chemical, and how to deal with it.

“You really have to weigh your pros and cons. It really is a nasty chemical, to have it burning,” Kuelling said.

“It was a large fire, not a small fire. One of the recommendations, due to the explosive hazard and the toxic fumes and vapors from the product, when it does burn, they recommend in the guidebook to evacuate within a half mile of the incident,” Schneider said.

He said the fire burned for approximately 90 minutes. He said that a local factory was initially in the path of fumes and smoke from the fire.

“There was the one factory, and (the Lindsey Fire Department) went to five or six houses to notify individuals, I don’t have a number on the actual number of residents evacuated, verses how many were sheltering in place,“ Sandusky Township Fire Chief Dean Schneider said. “The wind kind of shifted more to the northwest, so it wasn’t taking it toward that factory any longer.”

The incident took place west of Ohio 53, between mile markers 88 and 89, westbound on the Ohio. According to Schneider, the fire is suspected to have started from a mechanical failure in the braking system, based on photos referenced by the fire department.

“The more I thought about evacuating, now we’re making people go outside and are we going to expose them even further, but if we have them shelter-in-place, is that a better option? That’s when I decided that if with the shelter-in-place that if they weren’t in that immediate smoke, and direction of travel it was going, it was probably the better option, to keep them indoors, to eliminate them being in the smoke itself,” Schneider said.

He was also concerned about onlookers on County Road 109, standing outside their vehicles. They also closed down that road and made people move, because of possible smoke inhalation.

“Organic peroxide was the only chemical on the truck, other than diesel fuel, that was with the semi-tractor,” Schneider said. “The organic peroxide, and what was the reaction to the aluminum trailer that was burning, is the organic peroxide going to react to the aluminum that was burning? There were some unknowns there. We know, according to the guidebook, what it’s going to do in that state, if it’s on fire, or a leak, or whatever, but it’s on fire, and it’s involved with other materials that are not typically mixed with it.”

Schneider had limited options for dealing with the fire, because they would have to bring in all water supplies.

“Initial units responding to the fire attempted to put water on it, but the amount of BTUs the fire was putting off, and the amount of BTUs the water was going to absorb, were no match for the fire. The water was not going to make a dent on that fire,” Schneider explained.

They decided to let the fire burn out, because of a lack of access to enough water, they did not have the means to extinguish the fire.

“The other problem is if you’re going to be pumping a bunch of water onto it, there’s going to be runoff. I’ve done some research where the runoff can be a hazard, as far as a fire hazard, or pollute and become an environmental hazard,” Schneider said.

There was also more diesel fuel than usual, which was used for powering the truck’s refrigeration unit.

Firefighters used an encapsulating agent, commonly referred to as a foam product, on the fire remnants.

There were also concerns about electrical lines close to the fire.

“The wind was favorable to not be taking that heat toward the high tension (electrical) lines,” Schneider added.

Schneider said the truck was transporting the chemical load from Elyria, Ohio, to Lino Lakes, Minn. The truck, trailer and contents are considered a total loss. The value of the load is being researched as part of the investigation, but initial estimates of the truck and trailer are over $150,000.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol and first responders, with multiple fire departments, were on scene until approximately 11 p.m. Hazmat cleanup crews continued work through Tuesday. The investigation continues.

The fire was out by 6:32 p.m. with one lane is opened westbound with lanes restricted while the scene was cleared. All three eastbound were opened at that time.

As first responders arrived at the scene, detours were established. Westbound traffic was diverted off at toll plaza 91 (Fremont/state Route 53). Eastbound traffic was being diverted off the turnpike at toll plaza 81 (Elmore-Woodville-Gibsonburg/state Route 51), but as of 6:11 p.m. the eastbound lanes were reopened.

No injuries were reported.

The Ohio State Highway Patrol was assisted by the Sandusky Township Fire Department, Harris-Elmore Fire Department, Lindsey Fire Department, Sandusky County EMS, Ohio Turnpike and Infrastructure Commission, Customs and Border Protection, Madison Motor Service, Portage Fire Oak Harbor, Ohio EPA, Public Utilities Commission of Ohio and the Sandusky County EMA.

rlapointe@gannett.com

419-332-2674

This article originally appeared on Fremont News-Messenger: Evacuation orders issued because of 32,100 pounds of hazardous materials in a truck fire