Cooking grease spill closes highway in Henderson

By Jeremy Twitchell

Wednesday, April 29, 2009 | 1:52 p.m.

Crews have nearly completed cleaning up the mess from an overnight grease spill on eastbound Interstate 215 near the Fiesta Henderson that forced the road to be closed from the U.S. 95 interchange to Fiesta Henderson Boulevard.

Nevada Highway Patrol Trooper Kevin Honea said a tractor trailer hauling cooking grease tipped on its side shortly before 3 a.m. today where the freeway turns into Lake Mead Parkway. The tank ruptured when it tipped, spilling thousands of gallons of grease.

Nevada Department of Transportation spokesman Bob McKenzie said Lake Mead Parkway reopened at about 1:30 p.m., though the exit ramp from northbound U.S. 95 onto eastbound Lake Mead Parkway remained closed. It was expected to reopen by about 3:30 p.m., he said. Traffic from I-215 had been routed onto U.S. 95 during the cleanup.

The trailer, which also had a propane heater on-board to keep the grease liquefied, temporarily caused fire concerns as well.

“There was an explosive risk until the heating element could be contained,” Honea said. He said he didn’t have specifics about the mishap.

McKenzie said the cleanup took so long because cleaning grease off the asphalt requires a chemical response team with special equipment.

“It takes quite awhile because the road sucks in the grease, so they have to steam it out, scrub it out and it takes a long, long time,” he said.