Tanker Truck Overturns Near Grapevine High School
GRAPEVINE (CBSDFW.COM) - A tanker truck carrying 9,000 gallons of fuel overturned along Highway 26 in Grapevine, impacting several hundred students on their way to school on Tuesday morning. The incident happened between Mustang Drive and Kimball Avenue, and that area of Highway 26 was shut down to all traffic.
Fire crews arrived at the scene to find fuel leaking from the overturned truck. That fuel leak has since been contained. Crews transferred the remaining fuel into an empty truck, a process that took about two hours. Highway 26 remain closed until the transfer was complete. It re-opened around 11:00 a.m. Tuesday.
According to fire officials on the scene, the transfer process did carry a minimal risk of explosion. People were kept away from the area as a safety precaution.
That meant that students heading into both Grapevine High School and Timberline Elementary School in the Grapevine-Colleyville Independent School District were unable to travel on some roads. Also, access to Grapevine High School's stadium and fieldhouse were closed. School district administrators were still able to enter an office building located nearby.
Authorities will remain on the scene Tuesday to assess the environmental impact of the fuel spill. Although it is confirmed that fuel did leak, officials are not yet sure of how much fuel got out and where it may have gone.
Meanwhile, no injuries were reported in this incident. The driver of the tanker truck is okay. He said that he was swerving to avoid a car when the fuel tank flipped.
