BREAKING: Tanker truck overturns at Route 11; eyewitness hears BOOM, sees sliding truck

UPDATE: 5:27 p.m. Click here for the photo gallery of the day’s events.

UPDATE: 12:15 p.m. One school bus will be diverted from route. See bottom of story; UPDATE: 11:45 a.m.; UPDATE: 10:08 a.m.; UPDATE: 9:40 a.m.

By Shawn Cunningham

These are early reports meant to inform and help residents and drivers navigate throughout the day. As the events unfold, we will clarify and correct.

The 18-wheel tanker truck lies on its side on Route 11. The Williams River is in the background. Photo by Casey Savage. Click photo to launch gallery.

An 18-wheeler tanker truck, which can carry upwards of 18,000 upwards of 9,000  12,000 gallons of gasoline, overturned around 6:50 this morning Friday, May 16, at Route 11 and Goldthwaite Road in Chester, knocking out power to at least 1,089 homes, businesses and schools in the downtown Chester area.

UPDATE 5:45 p.m. Chester Police expect to reopen Route 11 after 8 p.m. Fire and cleanup crews are currently working to right the tractor-trailer and move it out.

A BOOM and a sliding tanker truck

Public safety crews evacuated everyone within 1,000 feet of the accident, including two homes. One of those evacuated, Joel Brookes, was the first person on the scene since his home, the white house with the green roof on Route 11, was the scene. That home lost a portion of its back yard to the floods from Tropical Storm Irene.

He says he was sitting in his kitchen this morning around 7, finishing his coffee and getting ready to go out to cut asparagus when he heard a BOOM and saw the tanker sliding right at him. Brookes says he made sure his dog was safe and ran outside to help the driver get out of the tanker. Brookes says he was hoping to be able to plant his garden soon but now, “I don’t know when I ‘ll be able to plant. It will be all gasoline and foam.” The foam is what firefighters use as a fire/spark inhibitor in such volatile situations.  His dog is safe, with a brother in Bellows Falls.

According to Ron Drown, he was driving the tanker, which he said was holding 10,500 gallons of fuel, heading toward Chester when he came around the corner and was met by a vehicle that had crossed the center line into his lane. That’s when, he said, the tanker tipped. “I’m lucky to be alive,” he added. Drown apparently was not seriously injured in the accident.

According to early reports, at least one of the tanks was punctured, its contents apparently flowing into the Williams River.

While early reports said that gas was leaking into the Williams River, around 11 a.m., state Hazmat Chief Chris Herrick said that while there has been “an active leak … it’s not a huge leak. They’ve dug trenches. It’s not getting into the river.” But he added, their concern now is the anticipated rains. It had started sprinkling around 11:30 a.m. and Weather.com is reporting that the area can expect isolated rains beginning around 3 p.m., with thunderstorms starting around 4 p.m.

Around 9:15 a.m., Springfield Firefighters laid booms to contain the spill  and an empty tanker truck was brought in to offload the remaining gasoline. A decontamination pool has been set up to hose off workers who had come into contact with gasoline.

Herrick said the firegfighting team “has done a great job. It’s not every day that they run into this.” Firefighters from Chester are being aided by those from Springfield, Rockingham, Proctorsville, Ascutney and Bellows Falls.

Herrick added that the trucking company, P&H Transportation of Haverhill, NH,  “has been very cooperative.”

An early morning call to the P&H offices yielded little information other than that they were aware of the accident and that a reporter would have to talk to the manager  since the owner lives in Florida. The manager wasn’t available, the young man said before abruptly hanging up the phone. P&H is a “licensed ICC common carrier of petroleum products, including propane, throughout New England and the Northeast,” according to its website. The website also says P&H maintains a “full time safety committee on staff to provide our drivers with the latest in safety updates and on going training with our insurance company.”

Diverting traffic

A large number of drivers used Popple Dungeon Road to get around Route 11. Many were unsure of the correct route until a sign was put out at Ethan Allen Road, which dead-ends. Photo by Leah M. Cunningham.

In the meantime, traffic was being diverted from Route 11 in Londonderry, from Andover Road and other Route 11 access points, and is being sent to outer roads including Popple Dungeon, which is a windy dirt road for most of its 6-mile length.

Safety personnel expect the road closings to last the entire day.

Power returned to the schools around 8:30 a.m. and classes returned to normal, according to Kelly Goodrich, of Green Mountain Union High School. Most of the kids were able to get into school using alternate routes, she added. At 11:30 a.m., Green Mountain Power was reporting just 73 customers in the Chester area without service.

Bus #4 gets a new route

Green Mountain High and Chester Andover Elementary students who live in Andover will be taking a longer route home this afternoon because of the continuing situation. Brendan McNamara, head of maintenance and transportation, said Bus #4, which carries about 25 Andover students for both schools, had to be diverted this morning and will also be diverted this afternoon. That route will likely be from school, down Route 35 to Grafton, and over Route 121 to Route 11 and the Weston Andover Road.  He expects that the trip will take about 35 minutes longer than usual.

–  Cynthia Prairie contributed to this article