Crime & Safety

Gas Tanker Overturns Spilling Fuel into Creek

Officials report that the tanker was carrying approximately 8,500 gallons of fuel at the time of the accident. Thousands of gallons are believed to have spilled into a nearby creek.

Police and fire crews are at the scene of an overturned gas tanker in the 3900 block of Winder Highway near Highway 316 in Dacula.

The accident, involving a gas tanker and a white Jeep Cherokee, occurred shortly after noon. 

"The white Jeep Cherokee crossed the center line and hit the tractor trailer basically head on," said Gwinnett County Police public information officer Cpl. Jake Smith.

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As a result of the collision, the driver of the tanker lost control of the vehicle and the tanker overturned. The tanker was carrying 8,500 gallons of fuel at the time of the accident. 

Both drivers were transported to Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville with non-life threatening injuries, Smith said. According to Smith, a witness stopped and pulled the tanker driver out of the vehicle to safety.

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"Of course things could've gone much worse than they did," Smith said. "It was a pretty heroic action on his part."

Gwinnett County Fire and Emergency Services public information officer Lt. Eric Eberly said crews are currently working to keep ignition sources to a minimum.

"If any kind of ignition lights the fuel that's on the ground, it could potentially explode the fuel that's inside the tanker," he said.

Crews initially estimated approximately 100 to 250 gallons of fuel have leaked to the ground. However, shortly after 4 p.m., Eberly issued an email update indicating several thousand gallons of fuel may have spilled into a nearby stream.

"We have built several dams in a nearby creek to help catch some of the spill off," Eberly wrote. "It is estimated that several thousand gallons of gasoline had spilled into the creek. Clean up crews are on the scene attempting to recover gas out of the water."  

Eberly said once the leak has been stopped and the fumes dissipate, crews can begin offloading the remaining fuel. Once the fuel is offloaded, a wrecker can remove the damaged tanker.

Eberly expects clean up to take several hours.


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