Parks Highway Reopens 4am, August 19, 2008

MAT-SU 5:30 p.m. – The Parks Highway, 80 miles north of Talkeetna could be closed until midnight, as a result of an overturned tanker loaded with compressed fuel.
The company, Fairbanks Natural Gas, has crews on scene who are venting the compressed fuel from the tanker.
Ken Farina, Incident Commander for the Borough, reported that venting 1,000 gallons of methane took two hours. Another 8,000 gallons of methane are onboard, though not all will be vented he said. Uprighting the truck without venting the fuel first was too dangerous, he said.
As a precaution, the Parks Highway is closed at mile 171.5 on the southern end to mile 184.5 on the northern end. The accident site is reported to be just beyond the Hurricane Gulch Bridge and the Honolulu Creek wayside.
Some 25 emergency responders from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, including the MAT-SU HazMat team, are staged nearby. The 103rd Civil Support Team, a hazardous materials team from Elmendorf and Fort Rich military bases happened to be driving in a caravan to a hazmat drill at Fort Greely when they came upon the scene and began assisting.
Farina described the venting as producing a white cloud on the road. "It's coming out of the tank at 260 degrees below zero, it's very cold so it lays on the ground. When it warms up, it rises and disperses," Farina said via cell phone.


For more information in the morning, call Emergency Services Director Dennis Brodigan 373-8815 or tonight, Public Affairs Director Patty Sullivan 745-9577.