Feb 4, 2016 2 min read

The fuel tank on a truck making a delivery to Washington Hospital early Thursday was ripped open when the driver was pulling away from the building, spilling fuel and leading to road closures.

Keith M. Seaman, 37, of Pitcairn was making a delivery of medical gases for Linde Group and Cryogenics Transportation of Landsdale when the truck’s fuel tank ruptured about 5:15 a.m.

South Strabane Township fire Chief Scott Reese said about 100 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from the single tank and the Washington County Hazardous Materials Team was called to the scene.

“The tank caught the concrete curb that tapers up the wall to the garage,” Reese said Thursday. “The fuel ran down Concord Drive to Colonial Heights Boulevard and into the storm drain on North Main Street.”

The fuel continued through the sewer under the street to a nearby office building.

“We used all of the oil drug that we had,” Reese said. “The Washington County Hazardous Materials Team came and put cob pads, made from ground up corn, under the truck. They also put two booms out at the storm drain to try and divert the fuel from the storm drain.”

Reese said a material was used to plug up the hole in the tank. The state Department of Environmental Protection also responded as did crews from SPSI, an environmental emergency response company. Reese said the company would be using a vacuum truck to clean out the inlets.

The leak prompted township police to close Colonial Heights Boulevard and Wilbert Avenue between North Main and Locust Avenue for about two hours, forcing several Trinity Area School District buses to be rerouted. Hospital employees coming and going from work also were detoured away from the area. The road reopened about 7:30 a.m.