by Bea Peterson
Reports from Hoosick Fire Chief Bill Rifenburgh, Jr. and the NYS Police indicate Brunswick officers are investigating an accident involving a tanker carrying 8,500 gallons of gasoline and 1,000 gallons of diesel fuel on Route 7 in the Town of Hoosick. The Hoosick Fire Department received the call at 11:48 am and were soon at the scene on Route 7, one mile west of Route 22. [private]According to the State Police, the operator was eastbound on Route 7 and failed to negotiate a curve in the roadway striking a guardrail and a telephone pole and then overturning down a 30 foot embankment into the Shingle Hollow Brook, a tributary of the Hoosic River.
The operator was taken by a passing motorist to the Stewart’s on the corner of Routes 7 and 22. He was initially transported to Albany Medical Center for burns, but he was later airlifted to the Westchester County Medical Center Burn Unit for burns to his head and shoulder area.
Rifenburgh said several local fire companies responded to the scene, including the Troy Fire Department HAZMAT team. The fire was extinguished within an hour. The fire departments stayed until the Department of Environment Conservation deemed the scene was a cleanup mission due to the gasoline and diesel fuel that spilled into the waterway. Route 7 remained closed for several hours due to the clean-up. That cleanup will resume in daylight on Thursday.
National Grid and Verizon also had many vehicles at the scene due to pole damage. They were still working at 8 pm Wednesday as an estimated quarter of a mile of fiber optic wires were down.
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