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Chemical Disaster Is Averted By Volunteers

Published Wednesday, July 17, 1996 in the Nevada County Picayune

Several dozen people were evacuated Saturday morning when a semi-truck loaded with toxic chemicals caught fire.

Fortunately, firefighters extinguished the blaze with no injuries recorded, according to a release from Arkansas State Police Capt. Ron Stovall.

The driver of the Roadway Express truck was driving from Memphis, Tenn. through Shreveport, La. on his way to Houston, Texas. He had stopped at the Exxon truck stop at the intersection of Arkansas Highway 19 and Interstate 30 to refresh himself and noticed the tractor on fire.

The double-trailer truck was hauling 403 pounds of organic peroxide in 30-gallon barrels and 1,980 pounds of aliphatic amines in barrels. The peroxide is explosive and its fumes are deadly. The amines is a corrosive which can cause injury to the touch and is dangerous to breathe.

Stovall said two state troopers, who are trained with hazardous materials, along with the Prescott Volunteer Fire Department, the Nevada County Rescue Unit and the Laneburg Volunteer Fire Department, responded to the situation.

The firemen extinguished the fire around 9:53 a.m., after it was noticed at 6:40 a.m.

The blaze destroyed the tractor and about a third of the first trailer. Only one of the barrels sprung a leak, but it was cleaned up, along with the other materials, by Haztech of Texarkana.

Residents along Highway 19 within a half-mile radius of the truck were evacuated until the fire was put out and it was determined no other danger existed.

Traffic along I-30 was allowed to travel without being stopped.


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