Traffic is moving along again on Interstate 35 north of Ames after being detoured for most of the morning to side roads. Captain Gary Foster of the Story County Sheriff’s Department says a motorist saw a liquid leaking out of a semi trailer and called the department. The truck was pulled over and traffic was routed around the area after deputies discovered the substance could be dangerous. Foster says the leaking liquid was a type of acid. He says it was a corrosive used to clean aluminum, that in its pure form would’ve been a “very large problem.” Foster says the liquid though was in a diluted form, and it didn’t prove to be a major problem. He says the truck driver and two deputies were taken to the hospital in Ames after breathing fumes. He says they were checked out and released. Foster says this type of incident is unusual, despite the high volume of traffic on the highway. He says they occasionally have an accident related spill involving chemicals, but nothing that caused the problems of today’s spill. Foster says the best thing he sees coming out of the situation is that over a dozen state, local and county agencies responded quickly to the problem, and worked well together to ensure that it was handled properly.
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