ALTON - Alton Fire Department Chief Jesse Jemison and Assistant Alton Fire Chief Brad Sweetman saluted the work of the Alton Fire and Police Departments, along with the Madison County HAZ-MAT team, plus a variety of others in a serious diesel spill cleanup along Illinois Route 3 at Wood River Creek on Monday.
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A tanker semi-truck overturned in that area of Illinois Route 3 Monday morning while making a turn in that area around 6 a.m. Alton Fire and Police immediately responded to the scene and the Madison County HAZ-MAT team was quickly contacted. The spill cleanup continues with Heritage Environmental on the scene, Sweetman said. Sweetman was uncertain how long Heritage Environmental would be there for the cleanup but said it will continue into Tuesday and possibly longer.
The spill was a combination of clear and dyed diesel fuel, Sweetman said.
“There were up to 3,000 gallons vacuumed up and still around 2,000 gallons went into the ground or creek. There was an unknown amount of diesel that flowed into the Mississippi River.”
Sweetman said the U.S. Coast Guard, Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, the federal EPA and the Wood River Levee District were all contacted about the spill.
The Alton Fire Department and the Madison County HAZ-MAT team halted services around 1:30 p.m. today and the lanes closed to traffic opened just after that, Sweetman said.
“We couldn’t recall this happening in a very, very long time,” Sweetman added.
Sweetman said at one point about 40 people were working on the spill and he said all did excellent work. He also mentioned the intense training the personnel conduct for these types of situations paid off today.
