Tractor-trailer overturns in Fulton Township

A tractor-trailer overturned along Route 272 in Fulton Township on Tuesday morning, spilling about 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel, according to a fire official.The tanker truck carrying commercial-grade diesel fuel and two other vehicles were involved in the 6:42 a.m. crash, state police Trooper John Smith said in a press release.

The tanker truck hit an embankment, flipped onto its side and spilled part of its load.A utility pole was struck and was broken into pieces.Preliminary information suggested the truck driver might have suffered a medical condition that caused the crash, according to Smith. The driver was taken to Lancaster General Hospital for treatment.

No one in the other two vehicles was injured, Smith said.Those vehicles were a car and a pickup truck hauling a utility trailer, according to Robert Fulton Fire Chief Tracy Tomlinson.Route 272 was closed between Route 222 and Soapstone Hill Road for hours.

About 1,000 of the 7,000 gallons of diesel fuel in the tanker spilled onto the road, Tomlinson said. Part of the tanker is believed to have split apart; none of its hatches opened in the crash.

Firefighters used dirt from a field to build dikes and tried to contain the spilled fuel with an absorbent material.
"None of it got to the creek," Tomlinson said Tuesday afternoon.

Hazardous-materials teams also used absorbent pads to stop the spilled fuel from spreading.
"I believe it is contained," Fulton Township Supervisor Mike Church said. "I don't believe area wells will be affected."

The tanker truck overturned about 1,000 feet from the Conowingo Creek, and the spilled fuel was stopped about 300 feet from the creek, he added.
Fuel was being pumped from the overturned tanker into containers so the tanker could be uprighted, Tomlinson said.

Representatives of the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission and the state Department of Environmental Protection monitored the cleanup effort, Church said.
Tomlinson did not expect the cleanup to be finished, the tanker to be uprighted and towed away, and Route 272 to be reopened until sometime Tuesday afternoon.