Parks Highway closed after tanker carrying methane rolls near Hurricane Gulch
Originally published Monday, August 18, 2008 at 11:24 a.m.
Updated Monday, August 18, 2008 at 6:52 p.m.
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ANCHORAGE -- Hazardous materials teams from the Matanuska-Susitna Borough and the military responded Monday to the crash of a truck tanker carrying 9,000 gallons of liquefied methane on the Parks Highway.
Methane is highly explosive and transported under pressure in refrigerated tanks.
A crew from the owners of the methane, Fairbanks Natural Gas, a utility in Fairbanks, removed rock that that jammed a vent acting as a safety valve on the trailer.
"Because it's venting properly it'll maintain a temperature that will reduce the risk of explosion," said Ken Barkley, an acting borough assistant fire chief and the on-scene official in charge.
Responders were deciding the best way to empty the tanker of methane before attempting to lift it back onto its wheels.
The semi pulling the tanker trailer rolled just before 9 a.m. at Mile 179 and emergency authorities closed the highway, the main road link between Anchorage and Fairbanks.
The tank itself was put on its side. The cause of the crash was not known.
Patty Sullivan, spokeswoman for the Matanuska-Susitna Borough, said the incident occurred just north of Hurricane Gulch Bridge, a 550-foot span that rises 260 feet above Hurricane Creek. A parking lot at the remote bridge is a frequent stop for road travelers with cameras.
The bridge is about 80 miles north of Talkeetna and about 58 miles south of the entrance to Denali National Park and Preserve.
The truck is owned by TG Services of Wasilla.
The driver, Robert Adkins, 63, was able to escape from the cab. He was transported to Mat-Su Regional Medical Center with what Sullivan said were minor injuries.
Borough emergency services director Dennis Brodigan said the first goal of emergency responders was to get the driver out and isolate the truck.
Authorities closed the highway at Mile 171.5 on the southern end and Mile 184.5 on the northern end.
The Alaska Railroad, whose tracks are within a mile of the highway, halted north- and southbound trains for part of the day.
Responders from the natural gas company noticed that pressurized methane was not venting properly and discovered the rock jamming the vent.
"They regained the use of one vent and manually opened a second vent to drastically reduce the threat of explosion," Sullivan said.
Ken Farina, the borough's incident commander, said the venting of 1,000 gallons of methane took two hours. He described the venting as producing a white cloud on the road.
"It's coming out of the tank at 260 degrees below zero, it's very cold so it lays on the ground," he said. "When it warms up, it rises and disperses."
Not all of the gas will be vented, he said.
The 103rd Civil Support Team, a hazardous materials team from Elmendorf Air Force Base and Fort Richardson Army Post, happened to be driving in a caravan to a hazardous materials drill at Fort Greely in Delta Junction and came upon the scene.
Fairbanks Natural Gas planned to eventually lift the tanker with two cranes, Sullivan said.
The semi was leaking diesel but there was no indication that the methane tank was damaged or punctured.
Alaska State Troopers said the highway could be closed through Monday night.
Community Discussion
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Drivers slow down. Owners, pay more attention to saftey and less to profits. Alaskans, insist that the trucking industry be more closely inspected.
Someone is slacking again, this accident scene is in the Mat Su Borough, and thus the ranking Mat-Su fire chief on scene would be in charge, and that isn't Ken Barkley. I wonder if he is a fire chief from Denali borough, who is assisting.
What a coincidence that military haz mat team was there. It would have taken forever to get one out of Mat-Su or Fairbanks.
MarieBarr:
"...Ken Barkley, an acting borough assistant fire chief..."
What is your point re-quoting that?
Mat-Su should be in charge of the scene, I personally know their commanding officer on scene, and he is a District Chief (their borough is split into districts). With him on scene an "acting borough assistant fire chief" wouldn't be in charge. 99% of the time scene control goes to the highest ranking officer.
On top of that, there is no acting assistant chief named Ken Barkley in that district of Mat-Su.
On emergency scenes only certain people are authorized to speak to the press, I have to wonder who this guy is and why he's talking to the paper where there is very very very little chance is is controlling anything but traffic. Why not talk to the person actual guy in charge when they want to get information. Sloppy journalism.
Therefore, he must be a Denali Borough active AC, and since the accident is in Mat-Su, a Denali chief wouldn't be in charge.
STATEWIDE HAZMAT RESPONSE WORK GROUP
(August 5, 2008)
Ken Barkley
Individual Agency
Mat-Su Fire Dept
Email Address
Ken.Barkley@matsugov.us
Phone /FaxStatus
373-8805/355-8626
http://www.dec.state.ak.us/spar/perp/haz....
Correction:
Central Mat-Su Fire Dept.... not Mat-Su Fire Dept
Ahhh, see thats my point exactaly, the AP writer was lazy, and could have done a bit more research and reported things properly. I hate the lazy generalizations that reporters so frequently resort to.
103rd Civil Support Team
"The Civil Support Team mission is to assess hazards, advise civil authorities, and facilitate military support during emergencies and incidents of suspected weapons of mass destruction. In addition, the CST advises civilian responders on appropriate actions through on-site testing and expert consultation which was at the heart of today's training."
http://www.elmendorf.af.mil/news/story.a...
Now the version on the ADN's website is contradicting itself, don't they pay editors to check for that kind of stuff?
The military hazmat team was going from Anchorage to Delta Junction via Talkeetna? Taking the long way, huh. Do I smell a conspiracy?
It's only about a hundred miles longer to go through Talkeetna rather than Glenallen, and if they needed to stop at Ft. Wainwright it's shorter to go through Talkeetna instead of going up to Delta through Glenallen, and then having to keep going to Fairbanks only to turn around and go back to Delta.
MarieBarr;
You're Welcome for the links.
I hope they helped you with your questions.
Oh no, my question was solved a long time ago by a simple phone call to the wife 1/2 of my friends. My issue is that the reporter did a lazy job.
My God, let the story develop. Don't reporters "report" the facts that they believe to be true at the time? They're not always going to be exact on the "who is who" at the scene, that's just journalism (although I'm sure they do their best). It's great to know that we have know-it-all ADN readers that can assist in providing minute detail on who the "commanding deputy chief yahoo" is -- or at least inform us of their ability to call the spouses of the "commanding deputy chief yahoo(s)". Thanks.
My God, let the story develop. Don't reporters "report" the facts that they believe to be true at the time? They're not always going to be exact on the "who is who" at the scene, that's just journalism (although I'm sure they do their best).
It's great to know that we have real know-it-all ADN readers that can assist in providing minute detail on what role the "commanding deputy chief yahoo" encompasses -- or at least informs us of their ability to call the spouses of the "commanding yahoo(s)deputy chief."
Thanks. I feel much better about the system now...
Ha. Reporters will talk to anyone on an emergency scene to try and get information, regardless if it is appropriate or not. When I still worked in journalism (not in Fairbanks) the reporters who were covering crime/public safety were told to look for the rookie and talk to them because they were the most likely to say something on accident that they weren't supposed to since they would have the least experience with the press.
That sure makes sense to me from a journalist perspective. "Try to get information from people, any people, bottom line." I'm guessing jounalists look for folks that are a little bit green or vulnerable and they're probably asked the first questions. Again, that makes sense.
My bottom line is that reporters do their best with the facts they have on hand. They don't always have the option of calling spouses who are married to the key players. That could get a bit awkward. Either way, I think they're doing their best to report a potentially catastrophic spill on the highway -- and unfortunately, right now we're talking about whether or not they forgot to add the "deputy" or a "yahoo" to the proper guys title. Who cares? Sounds like a turf battle to me is going on when we should really be worrying about what that hazardous leaking is doing to the area...
lol, you also must not be familiar with the fire service, the guy who talks to the press who isn't authorized has to buy steak dinner for everyone.
MarieBarr:
Why don't you go run to be a "chief" since you seem to know EVERYTHING and have totally missed the point of the article in the paper...As far as I can see you are now top notch "yahoo" in A)Journalism
B)Judging people on who to talk to and what to say, and if they are "rookies"
C)A holy then thou friend of a spouse of a fire chief
D)A grader of the editor writing the story
E)A tour guide on what road they should ravel on between Delta and GlenAllen.
F) A person that seems to think they can call people that are trying to earn a living and doing the best they can "lazy".
And apparently there must not be a Ken Barkley, since YOU don't know him.
Mr Barkley, I hope you have a response to this....
Meanwhile...I thank the Daily News Miner for filling us all in with what they had been given as facts. I had heard talk about a accident, it's nice to know what happened...
jennkkk
thanks for putting the obvious into words.
Marie
Sheesh
Well, I used to drive the parks about once a week, I worked in journalism and edited stories and the fire service (years ago), I've known my friends for 22 years and have also learned a thing or two from them...so I would say, yes, I do know what I'm talking about here. My point about Ken Barkley was that whom ever wrote this article did not bother to properly identify him, and also managed to contradict themselves in the version published on the ADN's website.
Must be a slow day on the internet when there is such a discussion about a vehicle accident and the theory conspiracy.
Awesome!
Parks was closed at miles 171 and 184, probably at around 10am or earlier, where the road closure notice(s) to drivers already on the road was actually posted ... Wasilla? Fairbanks? Or maybe right at miles 171 and 184, about 100 miles away from the nearest junction to a reasonable alternate route?
I can't wait until the DOT or whoever is "in charge" finally puts this new wireless telegraphy invention from outside to good use for Alaska drivers.
I just got back from Anchorage. Left Anchorage at 9am and got to the scene around 1:30 maybe. Were told at 2:30 that it would take a minimum of 6 hours to clear. So, we took our chances, doubled back, and took the Glenn to the Richardson. It took us 16 hours to get home.
I realize accidents happen but there was NOTHING on any of the radio stations about this accident. NOTHING on any of the AM or FM stations. We got to a gas station in Wasilla around 4:30 and the attendants had no clue that the Parks was shut down. We kept seeing all these people driving North not having any idea that this was going on.
Where was the communication to the drivers? Nobody even tried! I know out on the middle of the Parks there aren't any real options. It wouldn't of helped us, but it should've been all over the Anchorage and Fairbanks radio stations so people knew if they HAD to go then they should take the Richardson and the Glenn.
Wow -- nothing on any of the radio stations? That's crazy. And people whine about the News-Miner being slow on the uptake.
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