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Tanker Truck Wrecks in Bartow, Leaks Diesel Fuel into Greenbrier River

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Megan Moriarty with Allegheny Mountain Radio reports that on Tuesday afternoon a tanker truck carrying 7,800 gallons of diesel fuel overturned at Hermitage Bridge in Bartow, West Virginia. The driver was uninjured but the truck caught on fire and some of the diesel fuel has spilled into the Greenbrier River.

The truck was owned by Petroleum Carriers, LLC, based in Richmond Virginia. A private environmental clean-up crew hired by the trucking company is now on the scene.

The West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection remains at the site, with crews working to remove diesel fuel from the river. According to Tom Aluise from the DEP, the spill was contained and not evident beyond a quarter mile downstream from the spill site.

A similar tanker truck accident happened in July of 2012, where a tanker truck full of gasoline flipped onto its side in a field one-quarter mile south of the Route 250/Route 92 intersection in Bartow. This is the third tanker accident Pocahontas County has seen since 2009.

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Credit Julia Bauserman
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Fire crews worked to extinguish the fire