Truck rolls into Connecticut River, ruptures gas tanks

By OWEN BOSS and BOB FLAHERTY

Staff Writer

EASTHAMPTON - Firefighters and members of the state's Department of Environmental Protection scrambled Thursday afternoon to prevent at least 20 gallons of diesel fuel from dispersing into the Connecticut River after a driver for a West Springfield company rolled a flat-bed truck too far down the Route 5 boat launch into the water and ruptured both of his fuel tanks.

Firefighters from both Easthampton and Northampton responded to the scene about 3 p.m. for a report that a boater, trying to pull his motorboat out of the Connecticut, had accidentally submerged his truck up to the driver's-side window and had become stuck in the river.

Greg Sicard, of Easthampton, said he pulled off Route 5 to check the river conditions when he saw a truck sliding into the river.

"I was standing right here and I watched it go three-quarters of the way into the river," Sicard said. "There's a pretty deep drop-off over there and he must have just gone right off the edge when he was trying to get his boat."

Firefighters laid about 100 yards of boom across the water to absorb the approximately 20 gallons of diesel that had seeped into the river from the truck's two tanks. Two tow trucks from Aaron's 24/7 Towing and Recovery of Easthampton were chained together to haul the truck out of the water.

"One was for the dead weight, the other to winch the vehicle out," said company owner Joel Keefe. "We pulled it out until we realized the tank was ruptured and stopped everything until the environmental police arrived. The auxiliary tank held a substantial amount of fuel."

The operation took about three hours. Keefe said the driver must have been unfamiliar with the launch's pronounced drop-off, because the truck's rear wheels dropped to the bottom.

Western Mass Environmental Cleanup of West Springfield and the state's Department of Environmental Protection joined local officials in the operation. The identity of the driver was unconfirmed at presstime, but the truck, described as a Chevy 4400 Series flatbed, is registered to Aatl Inc., a trucking company, of West Springfield. The company was issued a notice of responsibility, according to Joseph Ferson of the DEP.