Tanker accident cleared without spill

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Naugatuck firefighters respond to an accident that left a Coastal Carriers truck stuck in a ditch Thursday night at the intersection of Neumann Street and Rubber Avenue Extension. –RA ARCHIVE
Naugatuck firefighters respond to an accident that left a Coastal Carriers truck stuck in a ditch Thursday night at the intersection of Neumann Street and Rubber Avenue Extension. –RA ARCHIVE

NAUGATUCK — A tanker truck carrying gasoline nearly tipped in a brook just off Neumann Street Thursday night.

Just before 7 p.m. the driver of the Coastal Carriers tanker, carrying about 7,500 gallons, failed to negotiate a turn onto a bridge leading into Mountainview Plaza, Naugatuck police spokesman Lt. Bryan Cammarata said. It appeared the driver took too shallow of a turn and the right side of the vehicle slipped off the bridge, leaving it partially suspended over a stream.

The accident closed a section of Neumann Street for several hours Thursday night into early Friday morning as the fuel was transferred to another tanker. The street reopened just before 4 a.m., Cammarata said. Power in the area was also turned off for several hours while fuel was removed from the truck. All power has since been restored.

Waterbury firefighters assisted, bringing with them a specialized foam trailer that can be used to put out fuel fires.

Fire Chief Ken Hanks said the tanker didn’t spill any fuel and the accident was cleared without any environmental impact. Hanks said normally gas is transferred from the tankers through ports on the bottom of the tank. These ports were blocked by the pavement, he said, and the gas was transferred through hatches on the top of the tanker.

A Department of Energy and Environmental Protection monitor observed the fuel transfer into another tanker truck, he said.

Cammarata said he didn’t expect the driver to face a police citation.