Source: http://www.wkyt.com, March 17, 2016
By: Victor Puente
SHARPSBURG, Ky. (WKYT) – An environmental cleanup crew spent hours at a wreck Thursday morning after a semi went into a Bath County creek.
The director of Bath County’s Emergency Management Agency, Jason York, said it wasn’t the size of that truck that was the problem, it was the oil leaking from it into a nearby creek.
The crash happened around 5:30am when the driver of a semi turned onto West Tunnel Hill Road and ended up driving off of it.
“When the fire department arrived they placed booms across the waterway to prevent the oil from going further upstream,” York said.
The two people inside were taken to a hospital in Mt. Sterling. York says the passenger was actually in the sleeper cab of that truck when it went off the road. Both people are expected to be OK.
York says the road they were on isn’t meant for large vehicles, which is a problem that’s becoming more common as more people use electronics to navigate.
“Sometimes it’s best just to use a map instead of trying to do GPS because GPS will try to take you up back roads. In this case it took them up a back road that wasn’t made for semi trucks.”
Once that truck was hauled away an environmental cleanup company, Pecco, was tasked with making sure none of that oil was left behind.
“Some people graze their cattle up this stream and we want to make sure the water is safe,” York said.
According to York the state road department put signs up last week stating large truck traffic on that road should only be for local deliveries.