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Bridgewater Hazmat Incident |
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Written by Chris Medlin
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Monday, 18 September 2006 |
At 4am on Saturday the 10th of September 2006, a large rigid truck
crashed into the rear trailer of a B-Double on an uphill section of the
inbound track of the SE Freeway (Microsoft Live Local Map Link).
The impact of the collision saw the cabin of the trailing truck crushed
back as far as the backrest of the seats. What little evasive action
the driver was able to take, was sufficient to ensure his own
survival. The impact of the crash also saw the load shift in the
second trailer. When CFS crews arrived, they noticed an unidentified
brown substance oozing from the trailer.
Not being able to idenfify the substance, the decision was made to shift the b-double to a safer location and flatter location (Microsoft Live Local Map Link) and a Hazmat Incident was declared. Hazmat capable CFS brigades Stirling and Burnside responded.
Region
1 Operations Brigade was called in to provide support with the
brigade's command vehicle "Field Operations 51" at about 8am.
The
truck's manifest being inconclusive as to the exact contents of the
cargo, a hazmat crew took all necessary precautions in locating the
source of the brown substance.
A number of broken plastic
bottles were identified as the source of the brown substance, but
again, labelling of these bottles was inconclusive. A phone call to
the manufacturer in Melbourne revealed that the substance under
scrutiny was chocolate syrup for use the food manufacturing industry
consisting of water, sugar, flavours and colours! A bottle containing
the 'offending' substance can be seen centre right in the image below.
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Last Updated ( Monday, 18 September 2006 )
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