Pettit Oil Hwy8 MP10 Tanker Truck Rollover
A Pettit Oil tanker truck, carrying two partitioned tanks of diesel and gasoline, lost control on highway 8, eastbound at milepost 10, at 0550 hours on Saturday, June 9, 2007. The resulting rollover caused one tank to rupture spilling 7000 gallons of gasoline and 3000 gallons of diesel. The spilled fuel caught on fire and burned the truck and one tank. The spilled fuel on the north side of the highway and the median caught on fire and passed through the south facing culvert under the eastbound lanes, burning the wetland and entering Mox-Chehalis Creek. The accident on State Hwy 8 east of McCleary, WA. was in Grays Harbor county near the Thurston County Line.
The accident released approximately 10,000 gallons of product (7,000 gasoline, and 3,000 diesel fuel). An unknown amount of the product was consumed in the fire.
Pettit Oil responded with technical environmental contractors, a mobile lab, and a construction contractor.
OSC Kathy Parker responded and arrived on the scene at 1245 hours. At that time the fire was out and the accident was entering the cleanup phase.
Cleanup activities have included booming the creek, product recovery in the creek, the use of interceptor trenches for additional product recovery, and sampling of nearby drinking water wells.
EPA notifications included US DOI and NOAA Fisheries. WA DOE spill Response program personnel arrived on scene at 0700 hours along with personnel from their MTCA program.
This incident quickly transitioned from the ER phase to recovery and remediation. Unified Command was established when EPA arrived on-scene and included Washington State Patrol, Washington Department of Ecology, Washington Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, EPA, and Pettit Oil.
