The Knoxville News-Sentinel
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — An overturned tanker truck Monday spilled an estimated 4,000 gallons of gasoline, much of it pooling against a wall on Interstate 640 East beneath the Western Avenue overpass.
An estimated 1,000 gallons of that total amount poured into the city’s sewer drains, said Brent Seymour, Knoxville Fire Department spokesman.
The Knoxville Fire Department had set up two dams made of bags of absorbent material on Third Creek near a KUB facility on Ed Shouse Drive to stem the flow of fuel product into the creek.
HEPACO, an environmental remediation and emergency response company, vacuumed an estimated 3,000 gallons of fuel from the interstate and then removed the rest of the fuel from the tanker.
Hazardous Materials specialists for the KFD also were on the scene, monitoring the spill for potential problems or fires.
Seymour said HEPACO also extracted fuel from the surface of Third Creek. It was not known how many gallons may have flowed into the creek.
There were no fires and no injuries, according to KFD.
The driver of the truck declined medical treatment at the scene, according to Seymour.
The truck tanker overturned at about 5 p.m., and Western Avenue and the east and west lanes of the interstate were closed. Traffic was diverted to alternate routes. By 10 p.m., all roads were opened.