Oakland Park firefighters spent hours Tuesday at the scene of a fuel tanker crash.
Crews found the rig on its side after going off the road and crashing into a tree in between two homes.
“Anytime you have a tanker truck on its side, they’re not supposed to be laying down -- they’re not built for that,” Oakland Park Fire Rescue Asst. Chief Marc Vermont told WPLG.
“Once that vehicle rolls over, the only way to right it is to offload the product. It’s on there, so it takes some time. It’s a coordinated operation."
While the diesel fuel that the tanker was carrying did not spill out, some of the tanker’s personal fuel did leak, prompting firefighters to spray foam on the spill as crews worked to drill holes so they could pump the remaining fuel into another tanker.
“They have to drill holes into the side of the vehicle, into the tanker, put in a pump and it takes some time to do that safely. Obviously can’t create a spark, so you’ll have a fire flare up,” Vermont explained.
The slow and deliberate process took several hours with crews planning to pull the tanker upright once its tanks were emptied.
The driver was the only person injured.
