Chemicals Burn in Wirrega Truck Fire – Highway Closed
Dukes Highway Closed due to truck fire
Monday, 26 July 2010
The Dukes Highway at Wirrega, 25km from Bordertown heading towards Keith, remains closed following a b-double truck fire which started at 4:30pm yesterday.
The truck fire has now been extinguished after forty CFS volunteer firefighters, including specialised hazardous chemical response crews, worked throughout the night.
CFS Region 5 Duty Officer, Brenton Hastie said initial investigations determined that the content of one of the trailers was the herbicide Amicide 625.
“When alight this chemical lets off anoxic gas, for this reason we established a 100m exclusion zone around the incident,” said Mr Hastie.
CFS personal from specialist hazardous chemical response crews from across SA, with assistance from a Victorian County Fire Authority (CFS) crew, worked, where safe to do so, in gas tight suits to extinguish and contain the fire.
Mr Hastie said, “It took crews nearly eight and a half hours to extinguish the fire. The incident was listed as contained by 1am.”
During the incident a large plume of smoke travelled across the Wirrega area, this has now dispersed. Overnight, as a precaution, six to eight houses within the immediate area of the incident were door knocked by SA Police.
“The threat to public safety was minimal, but as a precaution we asked local residents to stay indoors with their windows closed, while we worked to contain the situation. The plume of smoke has now dispersed,” said Mr. Hastie.
The Dukes Highway, between Bordertown and Keith, is expected to be closed for at least the next 10 hours. Overnight road blocks were managed by SA Police and the State Emergency Service (SES). The Department for Environment and Heritage (DEH) have now established un-manned road blocks.
“It is important that all drivers in the area adhere to the road closure signage and take the directed diverts. There are still a significant number of emergency service personnel in the area and the clean up process is likely to take some time,” said Mr Hastie.
A team of 30 CFS relief personal from the local area and Adelaide are en route to the incident and upon arrival at the scene, will begin the overhaul and clean up process. They will be assisted by SES personal, SA Police and SA Ambulance crews.
“The incident management team will continue to liaise with the loading company of the b-double, as well as hazmat specialists to manage the clean up process. Ever precaution will be taken due to the hazardous chemicals involved,” said Mr Hastie.
SA Ambulance crews are on scene as a precaution due to the hazardous situation, they have been providing health checks through out the management of the incident.
Mr Hastie said, “All personnel who enter the exclusion zone have been and will continue to be, decontaminated upon exit”.
A Salvation Army team have been at the scene for most of the night, providing catering for the night shift personnel and they will continue to provide this service throughout the day.
“The multi-agency response effort has been tremendous. The entire emergency service team involved with the incident have worked hard throughout the night to contain this situation.
“The assistance from our interstate counterparts, the CFA, was gratefully received and highly appreciated, as was the involvement of the Salvation Army catering unit,” said Mr Hastie.
The driver of the vehicle was able to escape safely. He pulled over after noticing smoke coming from the rear wheel of the back trailer. He was able to disconnect the prime mover from the trailers, before the fire spread from the rear wheel into the back trailer and quickly into the front trailer.
Both trailers have been destroyed and the value of the trailers and their contents, is unknown at this stage.
Media Release
SA Country Fire Service
