Two Trucks Tumble
From Chelsea Roads
By Cornelia Cesari

Recovery of this oil truck, which fell 85 feet over the precipitous bank of Bobbin Shop Road in Chelsea, took 17 hours. Nobody was injured, and no oil was spilled. . (Herald photo by Mary Osgood)

On Tuesday, July 15, Richard Adams, 46, of Johnsville, N.Y. reached for something on the dashboard of his 2007 Mack straight truck. It was about 1 p.m. and Shirley Hewitt was on her porch on the East Randolph Road in Chelsea.

She watched the right front wheel of Adams’ truck dip down off the road, then as he steered the wheel back to the left—which triggered sloshing of the load of 40,000 pounds of milk in his tank.

"I thought, ‘oh, boy—he’s in trouble!’" Hewitt reports. She could see the truck swerving and losing control. Then, she told The Herald, it was like a slow motion sequence as the entire truck went over and rolled 270 degrees.

"I remember clearly all the wheels in the air… the sound was like that groaning metal sound." When the truck came to rest, halfway across the road with its tank down over the bank, there was a tremendous bang. Hewitt says one of her neighbors thought there had been an explosion at HEB Manufacturing down the road.

The Chelsea Fire Department and First Branch Ambulance responded immediately. Adams was transported to Gifford with "what appeared to be minor injuries," according to the Vermont State Police report. He was wearing his seat belt and speed is not considered to be a factor.

The truck, belonging to Earl T. Wadhams Inc. of Phelps, N.Y., was hauling organic milk. Another truck came from New York to pump out the tank. They were able to salvage about 12,000 pounds, according to Hewitt.

Righting the truck and towing it back into the roadway involved three Sabil & Son, Inc. wreckers (a 25-ton, a 35-ton, and a 40-ton with a rotating boom) and took close to nine hours. The East Randolph Road was closed until 10 p.m.

In addition to about 24,000 pounds of organic milk which leaked out of the truck, a small amount of diesel fuel spilled as well, prompting a hazardous materials clean up. As late as Monday morning, Clean Harbors Hazardous Materials Company from Concord, N.H. was back at the site, taking samples.

Just three days later, Sabil & Sons and Clean Harbors would be called back to Chelsea.

Over the Edge

Friday afternoon, July 18, at about 3:30, Donny Sanford was driving his Ford Explorer down the Bobbin Shop Road, a local route well known for its precipitous view of the Route 110 valley. The winding road is notched into a steep hillside and narrow in places.

Sanford met an Irving oil truck coming up the road; they both slowed to a crawl and squeezed by each other. "I met him on the corner, we went by and we kept going," related Sanford, "and then I looked in my mirror and I saw him going over. So I went right to Flanders and called 911… I think he rolled over three times before the trees stopped him. The bank gave way. He’s a lucky guy."

Lucky, indeed. After tumbling down 85 to 100 feet, crashing through saplings and larger trees, the truck was stopped by a big yellow birch which caught it by the frame, rather than the tank. The driver exited the truck on his own, checked for leakage, and scrambled up the bank.

(The Herald was unable to obtain a State Police report on the accident, including the name of the driver.)

Once again, Chelsea Fire Department and First Branch Ambulance responded, and once again the driver escaped with minor injuries. Bill Josler, owner of Sabil & Sons, brought all three wreckers again, as well as a service truck with torches, generator and a 30-foot light tower. "Those big lights make it like daylight. I knew it was going to be a long night."

Indeed, it was a 17-hour night for Alan Ackerman of the Chelsea Fire Department along with about 15 other volunteer firefighters who responded and spent what time they could helping out. "It took an hour and a half just to clear a path to the truck," he said.

Sabil ran cables down to the truck and secured it, then waited for Clean Harbor to bore holes in the tank and remove the 1,800 gallons of heating oil. Miraculously, none had spilled. But pumping up a rise of 85 feet, especially at an elevation of about 1600 feet, is no simple matter and can’t be accomplished with a traditional pump.

"Clean Harbor used a system which uses a vacuum pump, tank, and draw hose; the pump is not in direct contact with the fluid," explains Josler. "This vacuum system did work but took a painfully long while." It wasn’t until about 3 a.m. that the truck was emptied.

Josler, whose crew is all heavy duty certified through the TRAA (Towing & Recovery Association of America) said he would definitely classify this job as recovery rather than towing. "I’ve been doing this kind of work for 40 years," he shares. "I’ve learned that you don’t rush these jobs. You don’t want to end up redoing anything, doing more damage to the vehicle or the environment than necessary. Spending half an hour can save you five hours on the other end."

Before they could haul the truck up the bank, the Sabil crew cut wood and pulled 7 or 8 stumps out of the hillside to clean up the swath of litter left by the tumbling tanker. They had to use ropes to get up and down the steep terrain. "You could stand on the bank to cut stuff, if you were real careful. It got pretty greasy, though, after it rained."

Local Heroes

After his many hours spent in Chelsea last week, Josler spoke very highly of the Fire Department as a great group of people to work with. He was impressed with their knowledge and expertise and found the firefighters to be accommodating and helpful.

"This was a pretty unique situation for us," reflects Ackerman. "We can role play a similar situation, but when something like this happens, we just have to think on our feet…It’s incident management: organizing people, communicating with the state, haz-mat, the oil company—all the logistics.

"You need to know where to find resources. This is the key to dealing with a situation like this. It’s being able to access resources and coordinate them."

Because there was no leakage, the state haz-mat team didn’t need to be called in, but the Fire Department consulted with them. While it was Irving’s responsibility to pump out the product and recover the truck, Ackerman explains, "Our main responsibility is to make sure it’s all done safely so there’s no danger to the public."

The Fire Department went above and beyond, according to Josler. "They brought all the right equipment," he marveled, "… and food. They just kept the food coming, with hot breakfast and coffee after a long night." He chuckled.

"I think I may have gained a couple of pounds here in Chelsea."