Tanker rolls, explodes near Cairo

CAIRO - A man driving a tanker truck full of gasoline escaped with his life Monday after he flipped his truck into a ditch causing an explosion that sent flames 60 feet into the air and creating a black cloud that could be seen for miles.

Timothy Dawson, 31, of Cridersville, escaped the inferno relatively unscathed and told state troopers he was not injured following the 9:30 a.m. crash on state Route 65 at Hook-Waltz Road just north of Cairo.

Dawson was transporting 8,500 gallons of gasoline for Ottawa Oil when he reached to grab something and drove off the right side of the road. Dawson tried to maintain control of the vehicle but loose rain-soaked dirt prevented him from steering back on the road, said Sgt. Rick Sanchez of the Lima post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.

Ottawa Oil is the same company that was involved in a 2006 tanker explosion at Eastown and Allentown roads that killed a Lima doctor.

"The wet ground helped pull him into the ditch where he lost control and overturned," Sanchez said.

Additionally, the full, fluid load shifted, Sanchez said.

"The problem with tanker trucks, even though they're baffled, the fluid is constantly moving back and forth. It's in motion and what will happen once that motion is going, the fluid goes to one side and all of a sudden the weight is shifted to one side ... that's what helped roll him over," Sanchez said.

The roadway was wet but that was not a factor, Sanchez said.

Tire tracks going back an estimated 300 feet told the tale of Dawson driving off the road, which Dawson confirmed when he spoke to troopers, Sanchez said.

The truck was severed in half with an estimated gap of 20 feet between the two parts. It was unknown whether the explosion blew it in half. Firefighters worked to douse the rear half that continued to shoot flames because they were unsure if there were any pockets of gasoline left in the tanker that could explode, said Allen County Director of Homeland Security and Emergency Management Agency Russ Decker.

"We don't know if the back section has been breached or not. Our concern is we know that heat is building up in there and what we don't want is to have people too close and to have that last section explode," Decker said while the fire was raging.

Foam, when it arrived, was the choice to suffocate the fire.

"The safest thing we could do, initially, was let it burn since it was a gasoline fire," Decker said.

Although most gasoline was expected to burn some would remain in the soil, which would have to be removed, Decker said.

Officials from the Ohio and U.S. Environmental Protection Agencies were notified, Decker said.

The explosion destroyed at least one power pole leaving 1,023 customers without power near Cairo, American Electric Power spokeswoman Shelly Clark reported.

By 3 p.m. only four customers remained without power. They were expected to have power by 5 p.m., she said.

The explosion also knocked out power to Chemtrade Logistics, a chemical plant near the explosion that produces sulfuric acid, Decker said.

The explosion closed the roadway until early evening.

Alcohol was not a factor in the incident and Dawson was wearing his seat belt. He was cited for failure to maintain control of his vehicle, Sanchez said.

"He's got a good driving record. He isn't, by any means, seen as a careless driver," Sanchez said.

Dawson was on his way to Ottawa Oil in Ottawa when the crash occurred.

Decker said tanker crashes are not uncommon around Lima because the city has a refinery. There's typically one a year but only two involving explosions in the past two years, he said.

"We have a lot of raw material coming in and finished product leaving. We are probably more susceptible to this kind of accident based on the volume of traffic," he said.

Decker said the fact Ottawa Oil has been involved in the two most recent explosions is not a big worry as far as the safety record of the company. He also was not overly concerned about tanker truck drivers.

"My experience is the truck drivers that are driving hazardous materials are some of the best drivers," he said.

More than 40 emergency responders responded to the scene with foam being brought in from three local departments to suffocate the gasoline. Water only spreads a gasoline fire, officials said.

Although the roadway was closed and a tanker truck destroyed, Decker was relieved it was not a lot worse.

"We are lucky here. We have no injuries and there were no other vehicles involved," he said.