An accident involving a Circle K gasoline tanker truck closed a busy stretch of a Meade County roadway Wednesday (5/21) morning.
The single vehicle accident happened just after 8:30 AM, at the intersection of Highways 79 and 261 near Midway, as a semi trucker was traveling North toward Brandenburg on Highway 79, when the driver ran off of the shoulder of the roadway and lost control causing the truck and trailer to roll over onto its side. The driver was treated at the scene by Meade County EMS then taken to the Brandenburg helipad to airlifted by Air Evac to University of Louisville Hospital.
At the time of the accident, the tanker had approximately 5,000 gallons of gasoline on board. Some of the gasoline was slowly leaking from the tanker which prompted a Level 1 Hazmat declaration and response from the Kentucky Emergency Response Team and Department of Transportation. The leak was contained and mitigated with minimum ground contamination. As precaution, an evacuation of a half mile radius around the scene was done along with electricity was turned off as the truck was under powerlines.
A private contractor was called in to do the clean up and off load the fuel to another truck which took most of the day. The truck was up righted and removed from the scene with the roadway opening and power was restored around 8 PM Wednesday (5/21) evening. Meade County Emergency Management Director Jeff Cox said, “The community and all first responders were fortunate that the truck did not ignite due to the nature of the accident.” He continued, “All safety measures were taken to keep everyone safe.”
The accident remains under investigation by the Meade County Sheriff’s Department. Deputies were assisted at the scene by Ekron, Meade County, Irvington, and Webster Fire Departments, Irvington Police, and Meade County RECC.
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