Crews clean asphalt spill from Poplar Run Creek
SALTLICK TWP. – As of Wednesday, crews had cleaned Poplar Run Creek of the asphalt and fuel oil spilled after a two-vehicle collision on Route 711 Tuesday, according to a state Department of Environmental Protection official. DEP spokeswoman Betsy Mallison complimented Fayette County HAZMAT workers for their quick response, saying that, by moving downstream of the accident and blocking the flow, crews prevented the fuel oil and the oil from the asphalt from continuing on. As a result, no fish kills were reported, she said.
State police said Byron Clark of Normalville stopped on Route 711 to make a left turn when his Chevrolet Suburban was struck from behind by an asphalt-filled tri-axle truck operated by Clyde Feige of Somerset.
Both vehicles went over an embankment and into Poplar Run Creek, which crosses under Route 711. Fuel oil spilled from the tri-axle into the creek, and the load of asphalt was dumped into the water. Commercial and Residential Asphalt Co. of Holsopple owns the truck Feige was driving.
Through the efforts of HAZMAT and the workers supplied by LTM, the company responsible for the tri-axle, the several tons of asphalt that fell and hardened in the stream were finally cleared as of 5 p.m. Wednesday. Mallison said the quick work of emergency crews helped prevent a bigger catastrophe.
Workers, armed with hundreds of pads and brooms, converged on the stream, under the direction of the DEP, and began sopping up the oil from the water Tuesday. The primary concern was to get the oil rising from the fuel and the asphalt as well as the hardened load out of the stream as quickly as possible, said Mallison.
“Certainly the accident had a big impact (Tuesday), but everything appears to have been cleaned. We will go back and look it over again in a few weeks, but I don’t expect any residual effect,” she said.
After the accident, Feige, Clark and Clark’s passenger, Oliver Clark of Normalville, were taken to the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center. A UPMC official said Oliver Clark and Feige were in fair condition Wednesday, while no information was available on Byron Clark’s condition.