First report:
The driver of a tanker truck hauling tar that hit utility poles, a porch, four vehicles and a boat Wednesday evening was cited for driving under suspension and failure to control, according to the Springfield Post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
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Crews who responded to the crash reported around 6:20 p.m. in the 4700 block of East National Road near Springfield contacted the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency due to the spill in an area where residents rely on well water.
The tanker truck was carrying a 1,000 gallons of tar.
The leaking tar is not a threat to the water supply, but it does need to be cleaned up. However, it is difficult to find a company to take care of it in the evening, according to the Harmony Twp. Fire Department.
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Samantha Galyen and her family were visiting her mother’s home.
“All of a sudden we just heard a big crash. A tanker pulled out and hit a car on the street, took out some poles, hit my mom’s porch and dragged a bunch of vehicles through the yard,” she said.
“You would never think in a million years that something like this would happen. It was terrifying,” Galyen said.
She said her husband saw crews take the tanker driver out in an ambulance, and that he only appeared to have suffered a scratch in the crash.
Mellissa Clancy owns property where the tanker truck ended up in a yard following the crash.
“We’re really concerned at the moment because the tanker that landed, where he landed is directly on our property and it’s spilling oil. We’re really concerned about our tenants because we don’t want it to seep into the well and our tenants drink that water and we don’t want it contaminated, so we’re just very concerned right now,” Clancy said.
The house damaged by the crash is structurally sound and the family is not displaced.
Credit: JIM NOELKER / STAFF
Credit: JIM NOELKER / STAFF
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