American servicemembers respond to overturned fuel tanker

  • Published
  • By Tech. Sgt. Rebecca Danet
  • Joint Task Force-Bravo Public Affairs
SOTO CANO AIR BASE, Honduras (AFNS) --  Firefighters, medics and security forces from Joint Task Force-Bravo here provided mutual aid assistance to the Comayagua Fire Department Friday when a fuel tanker overturned on C.A. 5 highway approximately 8 kilometers north of the base.

The tanker, carrying 11,000 gallons of butane gas, hit a horse on the road and overturned on its side. 

A puncture in the tank caused a slow leak of the highly-flammable fuel, which led Honduran fire and police officials to close the road in both directions for more than 24 hours.

The two fire departments routinely provide assistance to each other when incidents require more manpower or experience than what's locally available, said Herberth Gaekel, a JTF-Bravo fire inspector. He said they also conduct monthly training exercises together to enhance their ability to work together in incidents such as these.

When JTF-Bravo firefighters arrived on scene, Master Sgt. Pat Miller, the team leader, worked with Lt. Jorge Turcias, the Comayagua Fire Department incident commander. 

Together the two developed a plan to remove the remaining fuel safely from the tanker before turning it upright to remove it from the road, Sergeant Miller said. The risk of explosion during either operation was moderate to high.

One of the first obstacles to clearing the road was a nearly four-hour wait for a technician to arrive from San Pedro Sula, who could supervise the removal of the fuel from the tanker. In the meantime, firefighters began spraying water on the tanker in an attempt to cool it from the effects of the noonday sun.

"Our first priority is to make the area safe in order to protect the people," Sergeant Miller said. As part of that protection, Honduran police officers set up an 800-meter cordon around the overturned truck and effectively brought traffic on the country's main thoroughfare to a halt.

No injuries were reported to any of the responding personnel. Experts were able to safely offload the remaining fuel, upright the truck and tow it away.

"Joint Task Force-Bravo is committed to providing assistance to our neighbors when we're needed," said Col. Richard Juergens, the JTF-Bravo commander. "These are the people we live and work with every day, so it's good to know we can count on each other whenever a situation arises."

Comment on this story (comments may be published on Air Force Link)

View the comments/letters page