Fuel spill shuts exit

BANGOR – An Interstate 395 exit to Bangor was shut for about two hours Monday after a tractor-trailer struck a guardrail and spilled diesel fuel.

The truck spilled an estimated 125 gallons onto the ramp of Exit 3B, which leads to Main Street in Bangor.

The truck was heading east on I-395 and hauling general freight when a steering component on the truck broke, Maine State Police Trooper Barry Meserve said.

The guardrail ripped a hole in one of the truck’s two fuel tanks and, with no easy way to plug the 150-gallon tank, firefighters let the diesel fuel spill but contained it, said Assistant Fire Chief Vance Tripp.

“It was a tear, so we couldn’t plug it,” Trip said. Firefighters shut off a switch that connected the tanks and would have allowed the other 150-gallon tank to drain, he said.

Firefighters used absorbent materials to set up makeshift dikes to contain the fuel until the state Department of Transportation could arrive to cover the spill area with sand, Tripp said.

The accident occurred about 1:10 p.m. The spill prompted authorities to shut the interchange, requiring exiting eastbound traffic to continue across the Veterans Remembrance Bridge to Brewer, Meserve said.

The New Brunswick-based truck driver, Ralph Russell, 55, suffered a bump on his hand from the accident, the trooper said, while the truck had to be towed.

Representatives of the state Department of Environmental Protection and Clean Harbors Environmental Services of Hampden participated in the cleanup.