RSSSemi Flips, Spills Dozens of Gallons of Fuel in Orange County Crash
A massive emergency response was initiated in Orange County after a semi-truck crash took place on the heavily trafficked Interstate 4 resulting in an enormous spill of oil across the travel lanes. Reports from the Orange County Fire Rescue indicated that the incident took place sometime during the early afternoon on Friday, August 21st, and involved at least three vehicles, one of them a semi-truck.
Reports are still trickling in from various emergency response sources, but what we know at the time of this writing is that the semi-truck flipped over either after colliding with another car or after the driver of the truck jerked the wheel in an effort to prevent a collision with another vehicle. As a result of one of these two scenarios, the driver of the semi lost control of their truck. It was while they were struggling to regain control of the vehicle that the truck wound up jackknifing and overturning, rupturing its fuel tank in the process.
While emergency response crews rushed to the area, dozens of gallons of fuel began to pour out of the semi-truck. Fortunately, the truck was not hauling the fuel, otherwise the spill would have been much larger and more environmentally disastrous. The fuel leaking from the vehicle was instead from the truck’s own tank, which was carrying upwards of 40 gallons of diesel fuel at the time of the incident. As a result of the crash, most of this load of fuel spilled out of the truck and along the roadway, resulting in numerous lane closures and massive delays for those traveling along the road at this time.
While the emergency crews worked to clean the area, an enormous stretch of the I-4 westbound lanes were completely closed, from Lee Road all the way to Maitland Boulevard. Motorists attempting to drive down these lanes were instead redirected down other roadways.
Meanwhile, hazmat crews worked at the scene of the crash to clean up the toxic fuel while paramedics and EMTs endeavored to ensure that nobody was seriously injured in the incident. Despite the severity of the crash, no injuries were reported.
It was until several hours after the incident took place the wreckers were able to remove the load from the semi and return the truck to its proper position on the roadway.
Sources:
James O. Cunningham
Since 1977, personal injury lawyer James Cunningham has provided effective legal advocacy to people who are injured through the negligent actions of another person or entity throughout the Central Florida area. He fights to obtain recoveries for his clients’ physical and emotional pain and suffering and pursues his clients’ personal injury cases with a commitment to excellence and impeccable preparation.
Mr. Cunningham is an excellent and knowledgeable attorney.