Mar 3, 2016 2 min read

Nine hours after a tanker truck hauling flowback liquid from a gas well site crashed Wednesday in North Bethlehem Township, state police, firefighters from Lone Pine and Amwell Township and the Washington County Hazardous Materials Team were called to a second crash involving the same type of vehicle.

State police said Russell Kerr, Jr., 42, of Burgettstown, was driving the tanker owned by Deeter Equipment Leasing of Cooperstown, Venango County, east on Hackney Station Road in Amwell about 5:15 p.m. when he failed to negotiate a curve. The tires on the passenger side went onto the shoulder and hit the mailbox at 369 Hackney Station. The tanker then went down an embankment and overturned, spilling the contents into a field.

The tanker contained 60 barrels of flowback water, said Ron Sicchitano, emergency management operations officer at Department of Public Safety

“All 60 barrels on board spilled,” Sicchitano said. “It was a complete loss.”

Sicchitano said a small amount of motor oil also leaked from the tanker, but no diesel fuel spilled.

Crews from Weavertown Environmental began remediation work on the property Wednesday night.

Kerr was taken to Washington Hospital for treatment.

A tanker truck attempting to turn from westbound Route 40 onto Route 519 in North Bethlehem struck a tri-axle dump truck that was southbound on Route 519 Wednesday morning. The tanker rolled over, spilling flowback water. Sicchitano said haz-mat crews were able to remove more than half of the 100 barrels that had been in the tank.

The diesel tanks on the tri-axle ripped open. Sicchitano said crews were able to recover about 75 gallons of diesel fuel that spilled. Neither product ended up in a nearby stream.

The two drivers, who were not identified by police, were taken to Washington Hospital for treatment of nonlife-threatening injuries.

The state Department of Environmental Protection was at the scene of both spills.