Residents in a small McKean County town who were forced from their homes after a tanker truck hauling butane overturned have been allowed to return to their homes, a state department of environmental protection spokesman said.
The truck, owned by Elkhorn Corp., overturned about 4:30 a.m. while attempting to make a right turn from Route 6, coming to rest against a building.
No injuries have been reported, but hundreds of residents were affected by the evacuation.
Kane, which has about 5,400 residents, is a little more than 100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh.
An area of as much as a half-mile from the accident is in the evacuation area.
The Kane Area School District canceled classes today.
John Poister, a spokesman from the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the butane gas in the tank was drained and transferred to another tank before the truck was righted. The evacuation order was lifted about 3:45 p.m.
Tim Wile, a volunteer with the Kane Volunteer Fire Department, said about 250 households were evacuated. That's about 1,000 people, or 20 percent of the town's population, he estimated.
Mr. Wile said gas and electricity was shut down in the evacuation area before crews from another trucking company, Crossett Inc., righted the truck and pumped the highly flammable butane from the tank.
Mr. Poister said a member of the department's environmental clean up program was dispatched to Kane to advise local hazardous material crews.
Resident Linda Kellar said sirens were still blaring at 8:30 a.m. and firefighters were going house to house, telling residents to leave.
She said she could smell the aroma of gas outside her home, about two-tenths of a mile from the crash scene, at Fraley and Greeves streets.
She said the Red Cross has set up a temporary shelter at Kane High School for displaced residents.
Copyright 2012 - Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
McClatchy-Tribune News Service
