NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WSMV) – Nashville Fire responded to a crash involving a train and a fuel truck on Tuesday morning.
According to NFD, a train struck a fuel truck at the railroad crossing on 51st Avenue North around 8:30 a.m. Nashville Fire said the train was traveling at a low rate of speed but caused the fuel truck to spill its contents, nearly 5,000 gallons of fuel.
No fire was reported during the spill, and there were no injuries stemming from the incident.
“The tanker that was pierced we had to offload the remaining product from that tanker to another trailer and that is a very specialized process that our hazmat crews go through training for,” Nashville Fire Spokesperson Kendra Loney said. “So, we are very grateful to have our crews trained and those techniques here.”
HAZMAT and OEM crews worked most of Tuesday morning to contain the gasoline spill. An environmental crew was also called in to help with the process.
“There was some of that product that did get into storm drains and there was an environmental crew that did come to the scene,” Looney said. “They were also able to pump out some of that ethanol that did get into those storm drains.”
NFD set up a one-block perimeter at the outset of the incident and evacuated anyone within that perimeter.
The tanker truck was transporting ethanol, “which is extremely flammable and combustible. Anything as simple as someone within in the perimeter starting up their vehicle or throwing out a cigarette butt could create a spark and produce a fire that would generate a larger hazard,” said a Nashville Fire spokesperson.
To keep some people safe, nearby businesses and homes were evacuated.
“That is pretty concerning especially with a train because they don’t easily slow down or stop. So definitely concerned about the safety of the driver,” said Jessami Jacobson, Stylist at Ohana Hair Salon.
Jacobson works in the salon blocks away.
“Being downtown we are used to a lot of accidents being near hospitals, so this is the first major holdup that we’ve seen since we’ve been in the neighborhood,” she said.
In the end, Crews were able to recover 5,000 gallons from the tanker.
“The tanker that was pierced, we had to offload the remaining product from that tanker to another trailer. And that is a very specialized process that our hazmat crew goes through training for,” Looney said. “So we are very grateful to have our crews trained and those techniques here.”
No injuries were reported in the crash and there is no word on what caused the accident.
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