A tanker truck crashed into a parked car overnight Tuesday, prompting a jet fuel spill that closed Interstate 80 from Rock Springs to Rawlins for several hours, authorities say.
“It was a tanker truck carrying jet fuel that reportedly hit a parked vehicle and rolled, spilling jet fuel all over the interstate,” Jason Mower, public information officer for the Sweetwater County Sheriff’s Office, told Cowboy State Daily.
That collision happened at around 1:15 a.m. Tuesday, he said.
Dusty Davis, Wamsutter Fire Chief, said a man was in the emergency lane of westbound I-80 changing a tire and jumped into the back seat of his car “for some reason” just before the tanker crashed into him.
The car owner refused medical help, but the driver of the tanker truck was life-flighted to Casper, Davis said.
The tanker was probably carrying 10,000 gallons of jet fuel, but responders on scene were able to plug the leaks and use spill-stop material to staunch the flow to fewer than 2,000 gallons spilled, said Davis.
Jet fuel is flammable, and much of the spill was “close to the roadway,” he said, adding that authorities closed the interstate until about 8 a.m. to clean it up and “keep everybody safe while we were dealing with it.”
Davis said a hazardous materials clean-up crew is scheduled to mop up any remaining fuel. No navigable waterways run close to the spill site, he added.
All Lanes Blocked Westbound
The Wyoming Highway Patrol is the primary agency handling the case, said Mower.
Neither WHP spokesman Shawncey Day nor the Carbon County troop could be reached Wednesday for comment.
Carbon County Sheriff Alex Bakken said his office played a limited role, helping to close the interstate outside of Rawlins. He confirmed that no water sources or critical infrastructure were threatened; and he said the Wyoming Department of Environmental Quality was notified of the spill Wednesday morning.
A screenshot of the Wyoming Department of Transportation map taken at 5:55 a.m. reads, “All lanes blocked WESTBOUND near Wamsutter at milepost 180. Be prepared to stop, expect delays.”
An Ohio woman took to Facebook Wednesday morning, saying she’d been sitting on I-80 for two hours with it “shut down,” and authorities were telling people to peel off the interstate and turn back eastbound toward a truck stop. The woman did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
