A tanker truck carrying 1700 gallons of diesel fuel overturned on South Capitol Street in Southeast D.C. during the Friday morning commute, spilling fuel into the roadway.
WASHINGTON — A tanker truck overturned on South Capitol Street in Southeast D.C. Friday morning, spilling some 500 gallons of diesel fuel onto the roadway.
D.C. Fire and EMS Department said the truck, which was carrying 1,700 gallons of fuel, overturned in the 2300 block of South Capitol Street near Suitland Parkway at about 8 a.m. Friday. It’s unclear what caused the truck to overturn. Fire officials said no one was injured and there was no fire after the truck crashed.
A tanker truck carrying 1700 gallons of diesel fuel overturned on South Capitol Street in Southeast D.C. during the Friday morning commute, spilling fuel into the roadway.
(Courtesy D.C. Fire and EMS)
Courtesy D.C. Fire and EMS
The overturned tanker on South Capitol Street near the Suitland Parkway was carrying about 1,700 gallons of diesel when it overturned.
(WTOP/Dave Dildine)
WTOP/Dave Dildine
D.C. fire crews respond to the overturned tanker truck on South Capitol Street.
(WTOP/Dave Dildine)
WTOP/Dave Dildine
The tanker truck was carrying 1,700 gallons of diesel when it overturned on South Capitol Street Friday morning. Officials said about 500 gallons of fuel leaked out of the truck.
(WTOP/Dave Dildine)
WTOP/Dave Dildine
The overturned tanker on South Capitol Street near the Suitland Parkway was carrying about 1,700 gallons of diesel when it overturned. About 500 gallons spilled, fire officials said.
(WTOP/Dave Dildine)
WTOP/Dave Dildine
Crews hauled in sand to stop the spread of the spilled fuel.
(Courtesy D.C. Fire and EMS)
Courtesy D.C. Fire and EMS
Crews hauled in sand to stop the spread of the spilled fuel.
(WTOP/Dave Dildine)
WTOP/Dave Dildine
The truck overturned in the 2300 block of South Capitol Street south of the Douglass Bridge at about 7 a.m. Friday.
(Courtesy D.C. Fire and EMS)
Courtesy D.C. Fire and EMS
Crews respond to the overturned truck on South Capitol Street.
(WTOP/Dave Dildine)
WTOP/Dave Dildine
A tanker truck carrying 1700 gallons of diesel fuel overturned on South Capitol Street in Southeast D.C. during the Friday morning commute, spilling fuel into the roadway.
(Courtesy D.C. Fire and EMS)
It will take hours of painstaking work to remove the rest of the diesel from the overturned truck and then flip the truck back over, said D.C. Fire and EMS spokesman Vito Maggiolo.
“We don’t know how long this process is going to take,” Maggiolo told WTOP. “It’s not an easy process. It has to be done slowly; it has to be done carefully.”
Within about two hours of the truck flipping over, hazmat teams had reduced the leak to a trickle, using sand to “dike” the spill and minimize the spread, fire officials said.
Initially, there were concerns that some of the fuel may have leaked into the nearby Anacostia River and fire boats were dispatched to check. “There is no indication that is the case,” Maggiolo said.
The D.C. Department of Energy and Environment, D.C. Water and the D.C. Police Department also responded to the crash.
Jack Moore joined WTOP.com as a digital writer/editor in July 2016. Previous to his current role, he covered federal government management and technology as the news editor at Nextgov.com, part of Government Executive Media Group.