In this incident, on November 11th, 2020, Team Pro-Enviro responded to a tractor-and-trailer that had become stuck in the median. It needed a heavy truck tow from our Pro-Tow team but had also spilled fluid and needed spill recovery. With little detail to tell us if the truck or trailers were upright, we called Washington State Patrol (WSP) and updated them.
We then got our equipment and headed out to the scene.
Scene Assessment
Once we arrived, we contacted the driver and WSP troopers for signatures and more information. Team Pro-Enviro also found the fuel spill involved 10-15 gallons spilled onto the roadway. Still, the spill response had to wait until Pro-Tow could recover the accident because of road safety and traffic control. To that end, Pro-Tow brought the necessary equipment and began the recovery of the truck.
Removing the Truck
We set up a mobile rotating crane to recover the tractor and trailer combination. Once rigged, our team found that part of the crushed frame was leaking air. Pro-Tow wasn’t able to stop the leak, so they caged the brakes and supplied air to the trailer as a temporary solution instead. We got the combination back on the roadway. Then it was moved to a safe location to be separated and then taken to the Old Dominion yard.
Spill Response
The following day, team Pro-Enviro contacted the Department of Transportation and Traffic Control Company to tackle the roadway cleanup. We brought a compact tracked loader with a bucket attachment to handle the work. Our team worked efficiently to clean the spill and meet the standards of the Department of Ecology. Once we collected all contaminated soil, we took the samples and dropped them off at the labs.
With the roadways clean and open again and the crash handled, we gave the cleared call on another successful spill recovery!
