Diesel tanker spill closes I-25
Officials report no fuel leaked into the Big Thompson River
Interstate 25 closed in both directions at Loveland after a fuel tanker crashed and spilled about 11,000 gallons of diesel early Saturday morning.
The frontage road also was affected by the spill.
Fire crews were called out to clean up the diesel spill, officials said, and the Colorado Department of Transportation sent in crews to perform emergency repairs to the roadway.
As of press time Saturday night the highway was still completely closed. On its Cotrip website, CDOT said there was no estimated reopen time. Earlier CDOT had estimated the southbound lanes would reopen Saturday night and northbound Sunday morning.
Loveland Fire Rescue Authority reported on Facebook that crews responded at 1:12 a.m. Saturday to a “fully engulfed diesel fire” and extricated the driver out of the wreckage.
According to May Soricelli, information officer with the Berthoud Fire Protection District who was helping LFRA with communication, said the tanker was the only vehicle involved in the crash, and the driver sustained injuries that were not life-threatening.
She added the fire was marked under control at 1:35 a.m. and no fuel leaked into the Big Thompson River below the interstate.
After crews worked through the night, CDOT initially estimated the high
way could reopen around 11:30 a.m., but posted an update on its Facebook page at 1 p.m. saying the highway would remain closed through the daylight hours.
Soricelli said the Environmental Protection Agency was on the scene by midmorning Saturday due to the size of the spill. She added the EPA will supervise cleanup and will set up air monitoring in the area due to the closeness to residential neighborhoods and diesel odor in the air.
The transportation department detoured traffic around Loveland, asking motorists to take U.S. 287 or U.S. 85 instead.
The stretch between Colo. 402 and U.S. 34 has been the location of several other large crashes within the last few months. On Jan. 22 a crash between two semi trucks and a car closed the northbound and southbound lanes of I-25 from 7:40 a.m. to 1 p.m. and on Jan 26. there was a major crash that caused a pileup of at least 17 vehicles that closed I-25 nor thbound from 12:30 p.m. to almost 5 p.m.