No injuries in Trenton accident involving truck carrying acid

TRENTON, Neb. — No one was injured and no hydrochloric acid spilled in a semi-truck accident on the river road five miles east of Trenton in the dark Wednesday morning.

Trenton fire chief Tom Honey said this morning that the truck driver, from Wichita, turned a corner on a country gravel road at the corner of Roads 714 and 369, the trailer dropped off a culvert and both semi and trailer ended up on their sides.

The trailer carried hydrochloric acid, which is corrosive to metals and human tissue; its fumes are irritating to the eyes. Hovey said neighbors were evacuated as a precaution.

Some diesel and motor oil leaked from the truck and were cleaned up. No hydrochloric acid spilled, Hovey said.

Hovey said his firefighters and rescue personnel were called out about 7 a.m., and he requested assistance from the hazardous materials incident response team of the Red Willow Western Rural Fire Department, based in McCook. They responded with 12 or 13 people.

Hovey said he also contacted the county’s emergency management and the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality and asked McCook’s fire department and Community Hospital in McCook to stand-by in case the situation worsened. Assisting on the scene was the Hitchcock County sheriff’s department.

Hovey thanked McCook Public Power REA for its cooperation getting the power turned off while the critical part of the incident and response occurred.

Hovey said Sinner’s wrecker service of Wauneta appraised the situation and ended up using four wreckers to set up the trailer and semi. “This stuff is real heavy,” Hovey said. “Water weighs 8.3 pounds per gallon. Hydrochloric acid weighs 10.1 pounds per gallon. This was a heavy load.”

Hovey said no one was injured. “Eleven-plus hours, but done. Everyone was safe in the end. We all went home safe.”