Wednesday, Sept. 17, 2003 | 9:15 a.m.
A truck carrying fertilizer and diesel fuel spilled its potentially explosive cargo along Interstate 15 Tuesday afternoon, forcing officials to close the highway about 18 miles south of Mesquite for six hours while emergency crews cleaned the roadway.
No injuries were reported, and officials stopped traffic a half-mile away from the spill until it had been sufficiently contained.
The spilled cargo was similar to the main components in the Oklahoma City bombing in 1995.
Fire officials said that while there was little chance of an explosion from the spill, they were concerned the fertilizer and fuel could ignite and create a hot and fast-burning fire that could have also ignited the pavement.
Both the north- and southbound lanes of I-15 were closed soon after the 2:35 p.m. accident. Traffic on the northbound side of the highway was moving again by 5:10 p.m. Southbound traffic was kept at a standstill until about 8:30 p.m., creating a line of cars that stretched more than 10 miles, officials said.
"I've been watching this for three hours, and I think the dog, he's the only one who doesn't mind it," said Sue Bostrom, who was driving a 40-foot motor home with her husband from Idaho to Las Vegas when they came upon the accident.
Bostrom wondered why vehicles couldn't just go around the accident, but she was also somewhat understanding of the precautions taken by emergency workers.
"They have to be careful, so what can you do?" she said.
The truck, owned by Sanders Western States Drilling & Blasting, was heading south carrying 12 tons of ammonium nitrate, a common fertilizer, and 200 gallons of diesel fuel to a rock quarry when the driver's side front tire went flat, officials said.
The truck then veered from the right travel lane across the left lane and into the median, where it tumbled over, spilling its cargo. The driver, Arnold Petty, 52, of Las Vegas, was not injured in the accident, Nevada Highway Patrol Lt. Steve Cabrales said.
The fertilizer and the fuel were kept in separate compartments on the 10-wheel truck, which company owner Danny Sanders said was specifically designed to haul those materials.
On its own the powdery white fertilizer doesn't pose a threat, Clark County Fire Department Fire Protection Engineer Richard Brenner said. However, once the fertilizer is mixed with a flammable fuel such as diesel fuel, it becomes dangerous. This is because the fertilizer is what is known as an oxidizer, which feeds a fire oxygen and heat, Brenner said.
To turn the mixture into a dangerous explosive, the fertilizer has to be tightly packed, and the mixture then set off by another explosive, Brenner said.
Sanders said his company uses TNT to set off the mixture, which was to be used to blast rock in the quarry.
"We're really blessed and fortunate no one was injured," Sanders said. "It's a terrible inconvenience for everybody, but it could have been much worse."
Truck driver Chuck Ramsey, 56, was hauling a load of aluminum cans to California when he came upon the accident.
"It don't help things but it's just part of the game," Ramsey said about the traffic backup caused by the accident. "I'm just glad to know the driver didn't get injured. It could have been any of us.
"But I took a couple hours nap so it's not a total waste."
Even though conditions were not right for an explosion, Brenner said if the mixture ignited it could have created a dangerously hot and fast-moving fire on the road.
Brenner said if the accident had happened near a populated area, people would have been evacuated from within a half-mile of the spill.
Cabrales said a police inspection of the truck revealed no problems with the vehicle other than the flat tire. He also said the truck appeared to have been going slower than the posted speed limit of 75 mph.
"It was definitely just the blown tire," Cabrales said.
The truck, which Sanders said cost $120,000 new, was a total loss.
The spilled fertilizer was loaded into dump trucks, and will probably be taken to someone's field, Sanders said.
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