Hundreds evacuate after spill
■ Tanker carrying gasoline, diesel overturns on Bethlehem’s west side ■ Residents asked to leave homes at 2 a.m.; return in afternoon
Hundreds of Bethlehem residents were evacuated from their homes for hours Thursday after 6,000 gallons of fuel spilled from an overturned tanker truck on the city’s west side.
After being told to leave shortly after 2 a.m., they were allowed to return to their homes late in the afternoon.
A Dalton Delivery Service truck carrying gasoline and diesel fuel overturned around 2 a.m. near Paul Avenue and West Union Boulevard, according to a news release from city police Capt. Nicholas P. Lechman.
Officers went door to door and officials used the reverse 911 system to notify and evacuate residents in a 1,000-foot radius of the overturned truck, Lechman said.
Shari Wilson, who was among the evacuees, said there was a strong odor of gas in the air when she and her family left their Wilson Avenue house.
The fluid on the ground “was like the runoff after a rain, but it was gas,” said Wilson, whose three grandchildren arrived Wednesday from Colorado to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with her and her husband.
Michael Dalton, owner of Dalton Delivery Service in Allentown, was called to the scene shortly after the crash. Dalton has a fleet of a dozen trucks and services smaller gas stations in the Lehigh Valley, Poconos and Reading, he said. The trucks generally hold about 8,400 gallons but he hadn’t seen the order sheet so he was unsure how much was in the overturned tanker.
Colleen Connolly, spokesperson for the state Department of Environmental Protection, said the agency’s emergency response team responded to the spill, over concerns fuel reached Monocacy Creek. However, she said, sand berms below 14th Street protected the creek.
After hazmat teams cleared the area, Dalton’s crews pumped whatever fuel hadn’t leaked into another truck.
Dalton hired a private
contractor to clean pockets of spilled fuel along the culvert parallel to Route 378.
The driver, whose name was not released, was taken to a hospital with non-life threatening injuries. Dalton said the driver suffered a broken pelvis, clavicle and rib in the crash.
The American Red Cross was called in by Northampton County officials about 3 a.m. to provide resources and support for affected residents, according to a news release from the organization.
Red Cross teams provided canteen services for emergency responders and supported an evacuation shelter for residents at Nitschmann Middle School. The middle school operated on a two-hour delay, according to an announcement posted on the school district’s website.
Peter Brown, Red Cross executive director, said the agency served up to 150 residents inside the school. Brown said the Wawa at Schoenersville Road and Eighth Avenue donated much of the food.
By mid-morning, about a dozen people remained, as many others left to go to work or stay with families and friends. Some residents were able to return to their homes earlier in the day when officials deemed parts of the area safe.
Several residents arrived at the school with their pets, and the Lehigh Valley County Animal Response Team provided pet food, litter and other essentials.
“The pets were well-behaved,” Brown said.
Katharine and W. Edward Guyer of Beverly Avenue, sheltering at the middle school with Telsche, their dachsund, said they were awakened at 3 a.m. by police with bullhorns ordering people to leave their homes. Others said they were awakened when police flashed their emergency lights. Some police knocked on residents’ homes, they said.
Katherine Guyer was among several residents who complained that traffic has increased significantly in the largely residential area and tends to move fast.
“Police need to do some thing about Union Boulevard becoming a dragstrip,” she said.
The crash was in a largely residential neighborhood, not far from a shopping center and the border of Allentown, where Union Boulevard makes a large turn.
Lechman said that area, which is considered the 1700 and 1800 blocks, has seen five accidents this year. The posted speed limit for eastbound traffic entering the turn is 35 mph. The truck was headed east at the time of the crash, Lechman said.
“This area does not stand out from any other locations in the city in terms of volume of reported crashes or speed as a contributing factor,” Lechman said.
Police were impounding the tractor-trailer to conduct a mechanical inspection, Lechman said. He said it was too soon to note if speeding contributed to the crash.
Lechman said police are looking for video from residents and merchants who might have captured the truck’s approach to the turn, as well as the the accident itself.
Several residents said they could smell gasoline throughout the morning into the afternoon, as officials worked to right the tanker once all the fuel had been emptied from it, according to Robert Novatnack, the city’s emergency management director.
City firefighters, as well as water and sewer officials, the Lehigh County Hazmat Team, Rapid Response, PennDOT and other agencies responded to determine the extent of the spill and assist with cleanup.