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Responders
wait for the contents of an ammonia tank to drain after the driver
lost control of his trailer, breaking the tank. U.S. 56 near Burlingame
was closed three hours until the tank could be moved.
Jeremy Gaston | Reporter
BURLINGAME—U.S. Highway 56 was closed for around three hours
late Friday for an overturned chemical tank, which ruptured, leaking
anhydrous ammonia onto the road and into the air.
The Burlingame Fire Department and Osage County Sheriff’s
Office responded to the call around 3:30 p.m. Friday at U.S. 56
and Auburn Road, about one mile east of Burlingame.
Osage County Undersheriff Jeff Johnson said the truck and trailer,
traveling eastbound just east of Auburn Road, drove onto the soft
part of the shoulder, when the driver lost control of the trailer,
which fell onto its side. When the tank hit the pavement, a valve
broke, leaking pressurized liquid anhydrous ammonia.
The leaking ammonia, which freezes when vaporizing from its liquid
form to a gas, caused ice to form on the road, adding to the difficulty
of removal. Officers opted to let the gas completely dissipate before
trying to move it, which kept the road closed until 6:30 p.m.
A slow, steady stream of anhydrous ammonia gas escapes from
a broken valve on an overturned ammonia tank. The gas, which can
be toxic, quickly dissipated, and wasn’t a threat to the rural
area.
“We waited so it was safe enough for vehicles to clear the
accident,” Johnson said.
The highway was closed not only because the truck and trailer were
blocking the passage of vehicles, but also due to multiple hazards
of the leaking gas. In addition to freezing, the air born gas begins
to burn eyes and lungs at 400 parts per million. The slow-leaking
ammonia, however, was soon ruled to be generally safe for those
in the area.
“It wasn’t a threat to the general public,” Johnson
said. “It was in a pretty rural area. It dissipated fast enough,
and there were no houses in the immediate area that needed evacuated.”
The Ottawa Coop tank was pulled from Burlingame by a pickup truck
owned by Dubois Farms and driven by Carl Sheall, Scranton. The truck,
which remained upright, was not damaged.
Adrian Derousseau, general manager of the Ottawa Coop, said the
tank was a total loss.
“It had a gouge in it,” Derousseau said, and the Coop’s
insurance company would no longer certify it.
He valued the tank at $6,500 and its contents at around $800. The
tank holds 1,000 gallons, with the product weighing just over two
tons. He estimated it would take six to eight weeks to replace the
tank, which is a high-demand item this time of year.
“We’re always short of tanks,” Derousseau said.
“We’ll just have to make do and shuttle them around
to get by.”
The tanks are used to transport and deliver anhydrous ammonia, which
is used as a nitrogen source for planting and seeding farmland.
Osage County Emergency Management was called to the scene to assess
the safety of the chemical spill, and the Kansas Department of Transportation
was called to inspect the highway.
“There was some damage to pavement and the possibility of
black ice,” Johnson said. “I wanted to make sure the
highway would be safe.”
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