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'Pooling' resources helps protect environment after fuel spill

Like duct tape, small portable pools have many uses, even protecting the environment.

ITD’s Incident Response crews assisted with containment and cleanup of a fuel spill on Interstate 84 in Boise last week, fulfilling their role in protecting the public, motorists and the environment.

The outside eastbound lanes of I-84 west of the Orchard Street on-ramp were blocked Wednesday (March 20) for about two hours, ending at about 5:15 p.m., as Incident Response, Boise Fire Department, Boise Police Department and Idaho State Police responded to the report of a semi truck leaking diesel fuel.

The quick thinking of Kyle Wright, who responded first and was later joined by Nick Jones, helped contained a spill that could have been devastating.

The driver just filled his truck's tanks and was carrying about 150 gallons of diesel. About 20 gallons of fuel spilled onto the highway before Incident Response trucks arrived.

“The fuel was flowing out of the tank in a heavy stream, like an open faucet,” said Wright. “I remembered that we had equipped all of the trucks with flexible containment pools, designed for this very type of situation.”

The containment pool Wright used is a large orange plastic liner, similar to a child’s swimming pool. Wright quickly moved it into position with the help of the driver of the disabled truck.

“Thanks to that, the spill never extended beyond the highway surface to the dirt, where it would have become a much more involved cleanup, a full-blown hazmat scenario where we’d need to excavate all of the affected soil. As it was, it was similar to spilling milk on the kitchen floor – it’s on a hard surface and you just clean it up,” Jones said.

To absorb the fuel, a sand-like material was spread over the 20 gallons that had spilled. Jones said they used all 12 bags of absorbent material they had in the two Incident Response trucks, and followed that with 10-15 super-absorbent “socks” and some wattle containment tubes. The pool eventually filled and began to run over, but with all the other containment materials in place, it stopped the diesel from reaching soil.

Another truck was was used to pump the 50-60 gallons that had been captured in the containment pool.

Jones said a broken drive shaft punctured the middle of fuel tank on the driver’s side of the truck. When the fuel level fell below that hole, the draining stopped. Crews were able to shut off the passenger-side tank before it became involved.

Eventually, the semi truck was towed and the hazmat cleanup crew swept the diesel/absorbent materials off of the pavement.

“It was definitely an out-of-the-ordinary call,” Wright said. “I initially thought that maybe it was a blown hose on the truck, but it turned out to be a much bigger problem.”

“Thankfully, we had the right equipment in the truck to help contain this situation,” he added. “Some of the people involved mentioned they had never seen such a thing as the containment pool, but they were glad to see it put to use so effectively.”