Aug. 11--ELIDA -- A man crashed his pickup truck into two gas pumps igniting a fire early Saturday that wasn't as bad is it could have been.
The driver, Jonathon L. McDaniel, 21, of Lima, also took out one of the supports to the canopy causing it to partially fall at the Shell Station at 4675 Allentown Road at North Copus Road.
The crash was reported at 6:49 a.m. McDaniel was eastbound when he drove off the road, struck a speed limit sign and then the gas pumps, said Platoon Chief Brian Helmig of the American Township Fire Department.
McDaniel had not been cited and the crash remained under investigation late Saturday, said Sgt. Brock Douglass of the Allen County Sheriff's Office.
A clerk at the gas station shut off the fuel line to the pumps preventing the fire from possibly being a lot worse, Helmig said.
When firefighters arrived the fire was nearly out and the canopy over the pumps was partially down. The owner, Ottawa Oil, came in later in the day with construction workers to take the rest of the canopy down for safety reasons, Helmig said.
The retail building at the site remained intact and was not affected by the crash. A person fueling at a nearby pump escaped without injury. McDaniel was taken to St. Rita's Medical Center where he was treated for his injuries and released, officials said.
Helmig estimated $200,000 in damage.
Copyright 2013 - The Lima News, Ohio
