Tipped truck dumps salt, fuel in Saranac Lake
By ANDY BATES
Enterprise Staff Writer
SARANAC LAKE - A dump truck tipped over Wednesday at the intersection of Main Street and LaPan Highway, skidding to a halt and dumping its load of salt into the Tops Xpress parking lot.
The truck's punctured fuel tank, meanwhile, spilled diesel into the street.
According to village police, Timothy J. Bango, 40, of Edwards, was traveling east on LaPan Highway at approximately 3:15 p.m. when he lost control of the truck and crashed through the intersection, colliding with a village pedestrian-signal pole and the flower beds on the corner of the intersection.
It could have been worse, police said; Bango missed colliding with the other cars at the intersection, and no pedestrians were in the vicinity. Bango was treated for minor facial injuries at Adirondack Medical Center in Saranac Lake.
Police said they're still investigating how much salt Bango was actually carrying in the truck, which is privately registered.
The state Department of Environmental Conservation spill response team, the village Department of Public Works, the Saranac Lake Volunteer Fire Department and police assisted in securing the scene, controlling traffic and cleaning up the roadway. Madden's Transfer and Storage uprighted the truck and towed it away.
An estimated 50 to 100 gallons of diesel fuel spilled from the truck's saddle tank onto the road when the dump truck tipped onto its side, as well as small amounts of other automotive fluids, said Dave Winchell, spokesman for the DEC Region 5. Winchell said village crews reacted quickly to contain and collect the spill using sand and salt, and no fuel or fluids entered nearby storm drains or soils.
Village police Sgt. Bruce Nason also said he didn't think any gas filtered into the village drain system or Lake Flower and commended all the agencies' response times.
Nason estimated it took approximately two hours to clean the scene and reopen the road.
Nason said the accident is still under investigation, and traffic tickets may be issued in the near future. He couldn't say exactly why Bango lost control of the truck.
The contaminated sand and salt is being temporarily stored on a slab at the village's waste water treatment plant, awaiting proper disposal, Winchell said.
