By Lauren Brooks, Record Searchlight
August 19, 2006
HAMBURG -- Between 500 and 1,000
gallons of a toxic asphalt emulsion spilled into the Klamath River -- creating
an eight-mile plume downriver -- after a tanker truck overturned on Highway 96
on Friday, the Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department and California Department of
Fish and Game reported.
The California Department of Transportation called the
Siskiyou County Sheriff's Department about 10 a.m. Friday for help with a
hazardous materials spill on Highway 96. The spill was near Hamburg, about
three-quarters of a mile down the Klamath River from the Scott River, sheriff's
spokeswoman Susan Gravenkamp said.
The oily liquid flowed from a hole punctured in the tanker
when the truck crashed and rolled onto its side on Highway 96 next to the river,
said Anna Counihan, a California Highway Patrol dispatcher. The truck did not
fall into the river.
The driver was a contractor carrying the asphalt emulsion to a
road work site on the highway near Happy Camp, Gravenkamp said. The name of the
driver was not immediately available.
After the wreck, the driver was taken to Fairchild Medical
Center in Yreka, was treated for minor injuries and released, she said.
The Klamath River from Hamburg west is closed to recreation,
and no one should swim in the Klamath River until further notice, Gravenkamp
said.
At the time of the spill, the river was moving at about 1½
mph, and by noon Friday the plume had reached Rocky Ridge, below Happy Camp, she
said.
The material is reportedly an emulsion created by VSS Emultech,
said Dana Michaels, a Fish the Game information officer. It contains petroleum,
is toxic and is used to inhibit dust on dirt roads, she said.
But the spill most likely will affect only fish and
invertebrates, she said.
Fish and Game officers and a hazardous materials team from
Ben's Truck & Equipment in Red Bluff responded Friday and will continue
cleaning up today, Caltrans Information Officer Michael Mayor said. He added
that the crew pumped the rest of the oil out of the truck so it could be towed
Friday.
Gravenkamp said biologists from Fish & Game are in charge
of the clean-up process and will be taking water samples.
Reporter Lauren Brooks can be reached at 225-8215 or at lbrooks@redding.com. +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ Source: http://redding.com/
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