FREDERICK, Md. (AP) — A tanker truck hauling a flammable liquid crashed on a Maryland freeway Saturday and caught fireplace, killing the motive force and damaging a number of properties and automobiles, authorities stated.
The truck crashed round midday on U.S. 15 in Frederick, about an hour’s drive west of Baltimore. Images confirmed huge flames and billowing smoke.
Hearth crews arrived inside minutes of receiving a number of emergency calls and located the truck fully engulfed in a fireplace that had additionally unfold to 3 properties and cars, Frederick Hearth Chief Tom Coe stated at a information convention
A type of properties was extensively broken, displacing the residents. The opposite two sustained minor harm, Coe stated.
The tanker driver, who was not instantly recognized, died however no different accidents have been reported, Coe stated.
Authorities stated the precise chain of occasions that led to the crash is below investigation. Officers are additionally working to find out precisely what substance the tanker was hauling, although Coe stated it was believed to be a generally transported flammable liquid like gasoline or diesel gasoline that poses no menace to most of the people.
Crews will probably be monitoring the air high quality and isolating the realm the place the liquid saturated soil for cleanup, he stated. Officers stated there was no breach of the town’s sewer system or a close-by creek.
The crash initially shut down U.S. 15, which runs by the town of about 80,000 individuals, in each instructions, the State Freeway Administration stated.