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A tractor-trailer, fully loaded with cases and plastic buckets of dish detergent, apparently lost its brakes while descending the Broad Mountain (SR93) in Nesquehoning Thursday morning, sped across busy SR209 at the base of the hill without hitting any other vehicles, and rolled onto its side.
The impact caused it to spill its cargo onto an embankment along 209 with a large amount of detergent spilling onto the road. Route 209 was closed at the 93 intersection for about three hours.
Mike Mitzen, a Nesquehoning fireman, was at a service station near the scene of the accident and saw the truck wreck. Within seconds he ran to the vehicle. As he approached the truck he saw that the truck was on fire. With the use of a fire extinguisher he put out the flames as they approached the cab of the vehicle. His quick action probably saved the driver from being burned to death.
The trucker, whose identity wasn't available at the scene, was pinned in the twisted cab of the large truck. He was freed by members of the Nesquehoning Fire Department, transported from the scene by firefighters, Lehighton Ambulance Corps members, and Nesquehoning Ambulance Corps members, and placed in a MedEvac helicopter which landed in a field next to the accident site.
Chief of Police Sean Smith said it's somewhat of a miracle that the driver crossed the two-lanes of 209 without striking any vehicles. Smith said had any vehicles been passing there probably would have been a fatality.
The vehicle leaned against the embankment with about two-thirds of the top of trailer ripped open. Emergency personnel who climbed the embankment to render aid to the trucker endured extremely slippery conditions because of the spilled detergent.
A small dam using dirt was established along 209 to prevent the liquid from escaping too far from the scene. There was also material spread by firefighting personnel on top of the spilled liquid.
The truck driver apparently didn't realize his brakes were gone until passing a truck runoff about a quarter of the way from the bottom of the winding hill. At the base of the hill he entered the left-bound lane of traffic, careened across a grassy area, and entered 209 where the vehicle overturned.