Kan. Responders Handle Anhydrous Ammonia Leak

Aug. 19--A vapor cloud of anhydrous ammonia was produced after a pickup truck hauling a tank of the chemical used in farm fertilizer was involved in a rollover wreck Saturday afternoon at the intersection of Kansas Highway 4 and Holmes Road, said Lt. Mike Ascher of the Saline County Sheriff's Office.

One family in the 6400 block of South Holmes Road was evacuated, and a second home would have been evacuated but no one was there during the 2 1/2 hours or so it took for the cloud to disperse, Ascher said.

"The area is safe now, and residents have been allowed to return," Ascher said shortly before 6 p.m.

Ascher said the incident occurred at about 2:15 p.m. when Gary Olson, 47, of rural Saline County, was driving north in the 6200 block of South Holmes Road. The right rear tire of Olson's pickup truck struck a culvert, causing the trailer he was towing to flip and damaging the culvert, Ascher said.

Valves opened on a 6,000-pound tank containing anhydrous ammonia that was being hauled on the trailer and about half of the tank's contents leaked out at a moderate rate, Ascher said.

Firefighters with Rural Fire Department No. 2 and the Salina Fire Department's Hazardous Materials Response Team contained the leak by shutting valves on the tank, Ascher said. They monitored the area and determined when it was safe for residents to return.

Ascher said Olson was cited for driving too fast for conditions on the gravel road. He said there were no injuries involved in the incident to Olson or anyone else as a result of the chemical spill.

Copyright 2012 - The Salina Journal, Kan.